TikTok is hugely popular, with over a billion people consuming its short video posts around the world. But the app is less favored by politicians in key markets like the US and UK, where it has been banned on government-provided phones over security concerns. We answer your questions about why TikTok has become a lightning rod for suspicions of Chinese state spying, and whether nationwide bans are likely.
Why has TikTok been banned from UK government phones?
The main concerns with TikTok relate to the data and the fact that it is owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based Chinese internet company. Could the Chinese state demand access to data generated by TikTok’s global user base and, for example, create profiles of people of interest to it, such as government employees in other countries?
The UK government raised concerns about the data in his statement explaining why he was taking the “prudent” step of removing TikTok from government-issued devices. He said the app could access user data from the devices, including contacts and geolocation. According to the report by Australian-American cybersecurity firm Internet 2.0the TikTok app can access a user’s calendar, other running apps, Wi-Fi networks, and even the SIM card’s serial number.
Referring to similar bans by the US, Canada and the European Commission, the UK government said: “The government, along with our international partners, is concerned about the way this data may be used.”
TikTok maintains that its data is stored outside of China in Singapore and the US. It also proposes to store US and European user data on third-party servers in the US, Ireland and Norway. This hasn’t been enough to assuage the concerns of critics, who also fear the Chinese state could manipulate TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, which selects what people see in the app’s For You feed.
Why isn’t it banned on personal phones in the UK?
The government said the “proportionate pass” did not extend to the personal devices of officials, ministers or the general public. However, he added that people should be aware of the “data policies of each social media platform” before downloading.
TikTok has updated its privacy policy to inform European users that their data can be accessed in China, under specific circumstances. The decision to declare TikTok a risk on government devices but not anyone else’s has prompted experts to call for more clarity.
“The bottom line is that if there is a cybersecurity problem for government users, the same is true for all of us,” says Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey. “The only argument could be that bored users like me are not of interest, but there are many professionals outside of government where confidentiality is very important. Journalism, legal, medical, etc. If there is a security issue that no one has found, and many have searched for it, please let us all know so we can remove it.”
Why are you concerned about the Chinese state accessing TikTok data and its algorithm?
TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, which has led politicians in the US, UK and elsewhere to express fears that Chinese officials could demand access to user data and the TikTok source code under national laws, including the National Intelligence Act of 2017, which states that all organizations and citizens shall “support, assist and cooperate” with national intelligence efforts. TikTok says it has not received a request from the Chinese government for its data and if it did, it would refuse.
The US government does not believe in TikTok and this week confirmed that the Biden administration had asked TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the company or face an outright ban in a key market where it has more than 100 million of users. TikTok says ByteDance is 60% owned by outside investors, including US private equity firm KKR, 20% of its employees and 20% of its founders, Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo, who have stronger voting rights. than the other shareholders.
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Is TikTok user data accessible within China, including the Chinese state?
TikTok has long insisted that user data from Western nations not enter China, where ByteDance is located. But time and time again, the company has admitted exceptions to this rule.
In a late-2022 privacy policy update, the company admitted that employees in China can access their European user data, “based on a demonstrated need to do their job, subject to a number of privacy controls.” security and strong approval protocols.”
In 2022, a BuzzFeed Investigation revealed a series of scenarios where engineers in China would have access to US data, lasting at least until January 2022. The data was “stored” in the US, but with access controls that allowed for staff at other locations to access them, according to the investigation. .
The similar functionality of TikTok and its Chinese sister app Douyin suggests an overlap between the engineering teams, but the extent to which resources are shared remains unclear. Analysis of both applications suggests that they may share parts of their source code and are developed from a common code base. according to CitizenLab. TikTok’s credibility was also damaged last year when ByteDance admitted that employees had used the app to spy on reporters.
Can the recommendation algorithm be manipulated by a state actor?
The app’s highly praised “For You” page has a complex recommendation algorithm that takes into account a wide variety of signals, both explicit and implicit, to decide what content to display to a given user. Despite efforts to introduce transparency into the operation of the company, “FYP” is, like many recommendation algorithms, a black box for users: the total count of signals, how they are applied, and how they result in the appearance of any content. is ultimately impossible to see from the outside, and even difficult for TikTok to answer, given the nature of modern machine learning techniques.
That means it’s also hard for the company to counter fears that the recommendation algorithm could be quietly manipulated by a state actor, either through corporate-level pressure or direct corruption of a small number of employees. In 2019, The Guardian revealed that TikTok’s moderation guidelines helped promote Beijing’s view on foreign policy, banning the promotion of separatist agendas in Tibet and Northern Ireland; The company says it now writes its moderation guidelines locally, but some fear that a similar approach would be harder to discover if it were enforced through automated selective promotion and video demotion.
