For Brendan Carr, top official of the US communications authority FCC, the matter is clear: In his eyes, the Tiktok video platform is an “unacceptable national security risk”. Massive amounts of data are collected, primarily from young users, which Beijing can then apparently access without control. Apple and Google should therefore throw Tiktok out of their app stores, Carr recently demanded.
The platform, which now has more than a billion monthly users worldwide, is owned by the Chinese Bytedance group. And at a time when dependence on China is seen as one of the biggest political problems, the platform is worrying not only FCC member Carr in the US, but also politicians from both major parties.
So far, management has used a rather clever ostrich tactic to let almost all regulatory attacks come to nothing, even if they came from the top: In September 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued a presidential order threatening to ban Tiktok from the United States – if the platform is not sold to a US company.
Bytedance seemed to follow at first. A sale to Oracle and Walmart, for example, was under discussion. But after an injunction against the order, a presidential election and a change of office later, there was no more talk of the sale.
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Last summer, Joe Biden rescinded his predecessor Trump’s Tiktok order. He promised security checks for Tiktok and other apps from political rival countries. Little has happened so far.
Access to user data from China still possible
Bytedance has put the Tiktok business in its own division to make it appear more independent. In China itself, the short video app runs under the name Douyin. In July, Tiktok then appointed a new global security chief to address US concerns.
In the USA, the company is working on relocating sensitive data such as telephone numbers from US users to its own Oracle server in Texas, to which the Chinese would only have limited access. However, this will only affect part of the data. And even then, some Bytedance employees in China will still have access to the data, as Tiktok boss Shou Zi Chew recently admitted in a letter to Republican senators.
The website “Buzzfeed” had fueled the discussion again with a report on Chinese employees’ repeated access to US user data. In addition, at least part of the newly formed US data protection team is under the control of the Chinese headquarters, writes “Buzzfeed”. It’s not that easy with decoupling.
The question of how Chinese and how dangerous Tiktok is is now being discussed prominently in the USA again. “Forbes” recently evaluated the LinkedIn profiles of Bytedance and Tiktok employees and counted that 300 of them had previously worked for Chinese state media.
Senator Cruz calls Tiktok ‘a Communist Party Trojan horse’
The example of Bytedance makes it clear that complete decoupling within a group is unrealistic. A very instructive example for the German economy, in which the decoupling of the China business is partially played through.
User data is only one aspect of the debate. The other is which content the Tiktok algorithm favors and which it filters out. Republican Senator Ted Cruz, for example, calls Tiktok a “Trojan horse that the Chinese Communist Party can use to influence what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think.”
In the US, security concerns about the Tiktok app have become louder again.
(Photo: AP)
In China itself, Bytedance had to disclose the algorithm for Douyin to the authorities. There is no talk of such a step towards Tiktok in the USA. Now, however, there are calls for a new investigation by the Commerce Board.
In the UK, prime minister candidate Liz Truss has promised that she will take on Tiktok and Bytedance, whatever she means by that. India has already banned the app.
More posts from Asia Technonomics:
The problem of the politicians: Tiktok is now one of the most important online platforms in the USA. According to a recent survey by Pew Research, two-thirds of young Americans between the ages of 13 and 17 use the app. It has overtaken Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook in this age group. Only YouTube is used more. Does a politician dare to take action against such a popular platform?
And is it the greater risk in the election campaign to forgo Tiktok as an advertising medium or to use the platform because of the China connection? In any case, the head of administration in the US House of Representatives warned last week that MPs should not download or use the app. Your office classifies Tiktok as a high risk due to privacy issues.
In the Asia Techonomics column, Nicole Bastian, Sabine Gusbeth, Dana Heide, Martin Kölling and Mathias Peer take turns commenting on innovation and economic trends in the world’s most dynamic region.
More: India wants to show the world that it can do without China’s tech companies