Tiktok peeking through your phone?

Tik Tok is a Chinese social media platform that was initiated locally and then quickly became widespread around the world becoming the number one platform in terms of downloads and enrollments in Apple’s App Store.

However, it was not all sunshine and rainbows for the platform because its popularity ended up impacting it negatively in terms of political matters. As a result, this has affected millions of users worldwide making it unfair with some countries due to the sanctions created by privacy and data allegations.

According to a blog posted by ‘Remains of the Day’, the blogger mentions that, “Here in 2020, TikTok is, for many, including myself, the most entertaining short video app going. The U.S. government is considering banning the app as a national security risk.” (Eugene, 2020). However, when we recall where this all began, we realize that it’s more than just a security risk. According to an article published by Cosmopolitan magazine, the author, Mahera Bonner, emphasizes this further by mentioning, “In other words, Trump is blaming China for COVID-19 and his falling approval rating and wants to retaliate by banning a Chinese business.”(Bonner, 2020). Therefore, as we can see, this is also more of a trade war than just a “privacy breach”. The significant increase in popularity for TikTok has bought in fierce competition to the U.S and the Trump administration.

To conclude, the million-dollar question here is if TikTok is actually collecting your data. According to Cosmopolitan magazine, “TikTok is led by an American CEO, with hundreds of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product, and public policy here in the U.S.” (Bonner, 2020). This proves that Tiktok is more as a “popularity threat” than a privacy threat. And as mentioned before, the sanctions imposed by the U.S on Tiktok is because of the trade war ongoing between them and China, and not about people’s privacy. Instead, the Trump administration had to fabricate a story to keep the truth hidden.

Image Credit : Kon Karampelas/Pixabay via PC Mag

Reference:

1. Wei, E. (2020, August 04). TikTok and the Sorting Hat. Retrieved November 21, 2020, from https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2020/8/3/tiktok-and-the-sorting-hat
2. Bonner, M. (2020, November 12). TikTok Hasn’t Heard From Trump in Weeks and Just Asked a Court to Intervene Before They’re Shut Down. Retrieved November 21, 2020, from https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a33261844/tiktok-ban-united-states-explained/