Recently, President Trump threatened to ban the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, saying the popular short-form video app presents a security threat.
Trump hasn’t detailed his security concerns about the app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and some users say it doesn’t collect more personal information than many other mobile apps. But some privacy advocates are worried about a 2017 national intelligence law that requires all Chinese organizations and citizens to assist with state intelligence investigations.
Some privacy advocates say the law exposes all TikTok users to Chinese spying. TikTok has about 800 million active monthly users, and it was downloaded 49 million times in the United States in 2019.
“TikTok is Chinese government malware masquerading as a social media app,” said Mark Grabowski, an associate professor of communications specializing in cyber law and ethics at Adelphi University in New York. “It goes without saying, you should delete it if it’s on your phone.”
After announcing plans to ban TikTok from the U.S., Trump on Aug. 3 said he would give Microsoft or another U.S. company until Sept. 15 to negotiate a purchase of the app’s U.S. operations. Microsoft has expressed interest in TikTok, and, as a condition of the sale, the U.S. Treasury should get a portion of the sale price, Trump said.
Unless TikTok is sold to a U.S. company and the U.S. government “gets a lot of money,” Trump said he will shut down TikTok in the U.S. It’s unclear how Trump expects the sale to benefit the Treasury.
Some privacy advocates say TikTok collects more data than it needs to operate and that it has access to a smartphone’s clipboard, where passwords may be stored. TikTok can also access a phone’s camera, microphone, contacts, location, and saved photos and videos, Grabowski said.
“Think about all the spying and blackmail opportunities this creates,” he said. While many users are young, “many congressional staffers, Silicon Valley engineers, research lab assistants and journalists are 20-somethings. They potentially have access to sensitive government, industry, and R&D information, and so does TikTok by extension.”
The Chinese government’s connection is a significant concern, added Heinrich Long, a privacy expert at the Restore Privacy website.
“TikTok is genuinely dangerous,” he said. “It would be insane to allow this to be used.”
TikTok has responded to Trump’s proposed ban by saying it provides important competition to other social media apps and that it is transparent about the data it collects. “TikTok has become the latest target, but we are not the enemy,” wrote Kevin Mayer, TikTok’s CEO. “The bigger move is to use this moment to drive deeper conversations around algorithms, transparency, and content moderation, and to develop stricter rules of the road.”
Meanwhile, Trump critics say his talk of banning TikTok may be motivated by other issues, including a simmering trade war with China. TikTok users also took credit for a half-empty arena during a Trump campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. TikTok users claimed that they reserved tickets for the event with no plans of showing up.
Josh Schooley, an internet personality known as “Joshee, In Real Life,” said he suspects the proposed ban has more to do with politics than with security.
In addition to the Tulsa rally prank, TikTok has been used to share video of police tear-gassing and beating Black Lives Matter protesters, he said.
In addition, TikTok allows for the creation of “organic” online communities where followers trust each other, he said.
“Reports of newsworthy events broadcast onto the platform are quickly shared among large groups of people,” he said. “I believe this terrifies the Trump campaign in regards to the administration’s pathetic COVID-19 response, broadcasting real-time proof of police brutality, kids at the border, and other news … often much quicker than traditional media can report on it.”
Banning TikTok would have a major impact on online content creators, artists, and small-business owners who use the app to connect with audiences, Schooley added. “We’re in the middle of a worldwide pandemic,” he said. “Job loss is on the rise, and more and more people are at home. Many creators make their living on the platform through brand deals or selling their own merchandise.”
