GEOPOLITICAL concerns over TikTok, its data collection and its ties to China has swelled significantly in recent weeks.
Governments in the US, Canada, the European Union (EU) and now the UK have been hawk-eyed regarding how the popular video-sharing app deals with its users data.
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TikTok, owned by Chinese technology giant ByteDance, has amassed more than 1billion users worldwide since it launched six years ago.
The app became particularly popular and a source of entertainment for many during successive Covid-19 lockdowns, beginning in 2020.
However, a cocktail of well-established fears about social media’s data collection practices and concerns over China’s geopolitical ambitions have whipped up a large amount distrust regarding the app.
Earlier this month, the US, Canada and the EU banned people working for government agencies from having TikTok on staff devices.
While the app is not currently banned for government officials or the wider public in the UK, prime minister Rishi Sunak has hinted at following suit, saying country will “look at what our allies are doing”.
Today, the UK’s security minister Tom Tugendhat confirmed that the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is looking into the app.
“Looking at the various different apps people have on their phones and the implications for them is a hugely important question and I’ve asked the National Cyber Security Centre to look into this,” he said.
Pressed whether the investigation could result in a full ban on the app, he said: “It will be addressed with the challenges we face, with the threats we face.
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“I’m not going to give you an answer until I know what the risks are.”
Why might TikTok be banned?
There are concerns over security and data privacy at the Chinese-owned app.
Across the Atlantic, both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that parent company ByteDance could share TikTok user data with China’s authoritarian government.
In 2021, Ireland’s data protection watchdog, launched an investigation into “transfers by TikTok of personal data to China and TikTok’s compliance with the GDPR’s requirements for transfers of personal data to third countries”.
TikTokers sign up for a considerable amount of data collection when they create an account on the platform, such as:
- The device and operating system you’re using
- How long you watch a post for
- What categories you like
- Where you’re located
- The keystroke rhythms you have when you type
This is how the app is able to create an incredibly attuned main feed.
However, TikTok has called cascading government bans “misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions”.
The company has made an effort in recent weeks to counter some of the concern, launching new security measures under a scheme called Project Clover, according to the BBC.
Project Clover will see a separate security company “monitor data flows”, as TikTok tries to make it harder to identify individual users in its data.
Where is TikTok banned?
Earlier this month, the European Parliament, European Commission, and the EU Council – the three top EU bodies – all imposed bans on TikTok on staff devices, citing cybersecurity concerns.
Last week, Belgium announced it was banning TikTok from devices owned or paid for by Belgium’s federal government for at least six months over similar fears as well as misinformation worries.
Denmark’s Defence Ministry, also last week, announced it would “ban the use of the app on official units” as a cybersecurity measure.
While the US earlier this month gave government agencies 30 days to delete TikTok from federal devices and systems.
The ban applies only to government devices, however, some US lawmakers are calling for a country-wide ban.
Canada followed the US soon after, announcing that government-issued devices must not have TikTok installed due to an “unacceptable” risk to privacy and security.
Employees will also be blocked from downloading the app in the future.
In December last year, Taiwan imposed a TikTok ban for public sector employees.
In 2020, India banned the platform and dozens of other Chinese apps, after warning that user data was being mined and profiled “by elements hostile to national security and defence of India”.
Authorities in Pakistan have imposed at least four temporary bans on the platform since October 2020, citing concerns that it promotes immoral content.
While Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership banned TikTok in 2022 on the grounds of protecting youths from “being misled”.
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