How seriously do you take the security of your personal information? Have you done any research on this app other than what the MSM has told you about TikTok? And do you have the app installed on your phone? All questions you should be asking when it comes to the security of your personal information.
The Security of your Personal Information
It is claimed that TikTok is Chinese spyware. Due to this allegation, Three high-ranking US officials have hinted this month that the Trump administration is seriously thinking and working on banning the Chinese app. The three officials said TikTok is collecting data on US users and sharing the information with the Chinese Communist Party.
The list of officials who made comments of this sort includes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien (in an interview on Fox News Radio), and Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (speaking to reporters on an Air Force One flight).
Concerns
Pompeo, who was the first to address concerns on the Chinese app, said US officials began looking seriously at banning TikTok in the US after the app was banned just days before in India.
On June 29, amid a military conflict with Beijing on India’s northern border, the New Delhi government banned 59 Chinese-made applications, including TikTok, under accusations of collecting and sharing data on Indian users with Chinese intelligence officials. Pompeo’s initial concerns on TikTok were followed up days later by National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, who suggested that TikTok was collecting facial recognition information on US users.
The Company
The Chinese app, now managed through US company ByteDance, has been facing these types of allegations for years. The company has always denied rumors and accusations, stating multiple times that the app is run separately from its Chinese version, named Douyin, and any data on US users is stored in the US, not in China. However, this has not stopped rumors of TikTok serving as a conduit for Chinese spying from resurfacing again and again considering how draconian the Chinese communist party is.
The month started with comments from government officials, the Trump administration has now gone to social media for its next step. I don’t think most people are aware of the threat the Chinese communist party poses to the safety and security of the world.
Several experts have warned both last year and this month that a ban on TikTok won’t achieve the desired effect, being only a shallow measure that won’t stop “Chinese spying,” because thousands of other apps will remain available from China to US users.
Furthermore, TikTok is also not the app that officials should be focusing on, according to experts, who believe WeChat is China’s most powerful social media tool. There is a saying that data is king and when it comes to an infowar the one with the most data wins.
“I am not saying those are not risks, but when it comes to influence and interference in the political processes of foreign governments I think TikTok is a sideshow compared to WeChat,” said Bill Bishop, a reporter who covered China and its policies for the New York Times and other publications.
Conclusion
“WeChat’s overall user base in foreign countries may be small, but it is massive among the overseas Chinese diaspora, many of whom use WeChat as the primary information channel. Australia and Canada have already seen issues around elections from disinformation via WeChat,” Bishop said in a statement. With all of this information the choice of keeping or deleting TikTok if you already have it installed on your phone is up to you, what decision will you make?
