tiktok is in legal trouble for a totally different reason. They are collecting vast amounts of US citizen data and allowing the Chinese full access to it (which they made use of)
this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
5 points (61.9% liked)
Explain Like I'm Five
14243 readers
29 users here now
Simplifying Complexity, One Answer at a Time!
Rules
- Be respectful and inclusive.
- No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
- Engage in constructive discussions.
- Share relevant content.
- Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
- Use appropriate language and tone.
- Report violations.
- Foster a continuous learning environment.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
There is concern that ByteDance may be giving the Chinese government access to data on US citizens. It's worth noting that no proof of this actually happening has surfaced.
But following media reports, it has also admitted that China-based employees had access to US users’ data, although the company insisted it was under strict and highly limited circumstances.
Employees of ByteDance might be Chinese, but they don't work for the government. They work for ByteDance. I haven't found anyone claiming to have proof that data in US citizens has left the company. Just fears that it could.
For the violated US regulation it doesn't matter if it was the government. It says "foreign country or national thereof": https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/02/28/executive-order-on-preventing-access-to-americans-bulk-sensitive-personal-data-and-united-states-government-related-data-by-countries-of-concern/
EILIF: TikTok is like that "friend" that says they're your buddy, but you have a lot of reasons to doubt they actually have your best interest at heart.
From my notes:
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/28/tiktok-data-collection-inquiry-australia-privacy-watchdog-marketing-pixels
- https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/24/briefing/tiktok-ban-bill-congress.html
- https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/A-Tik-Tok-ing-Timebomb_12.21.23.pdf
- https://www.wsj.com/tech/tiktok-israel-gaza-hamas-war-a5dfa0ee
- https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/tiktok-bill-foreign-influence/677806/
- https://protonvpn.com/blog/is-tiktok-safe/
- https://www.engadget.com/doj-says-tiktok-collected-users-views-on-issues-like-abortion-gun-control-and-religion-201617503.html
Hate to ask this but can you slim down the links for us? I appreciate the effort.....but thats alot to read thru. And something tells me you probably have so was wondering if you could kind of cliff note it for me?....no sarcasm in any of this.
Basically TikTok has been proven to serve the Chinese Communist Party (via influence over what users see and data collection). Additionally, the Atlantic article goes on to explain how the United States has a long history of protecting its citizens from foreign influence campaigns going back to the early radio days (and trying to ban TikTok is not a divergence from the status quo or an attack of free speech, rather the continuing of policies that have largely worked and served the public good).
protecting its citizens from foreign influence campaigns
As opposed to domestic influence campaigns, I suppose.
Discord being a US based company lets FBI access to its data much more directly. While TikTok still provides this data, them not being US based ticks off FBI, because there is the chance of chinese government interfering with the legitimacy of data that TikTok would provide. On China, the state has much more control over the companies than US.
The US can't even deal with a billionaire buying up a social media platform and influence elections; but China can collapse any company's success at a whim. Changing a legal data request from another country is certainly something they can do if China demands it.
One provides the feds with proper access
Mostly because of this. TikTok is the app collecting massive amounts of data on its users with dubious intent and questionable security that is currently being scapegoated, and discord is on the long list of popular apps that collect massive amounts of data their users with dubious intent and questionable security that we are not scapegoating.
Or one gets the hose again.
China=Bad
TikTok does what every other social media app does (which is 100% legal in the US, thanks to corrupt leaders and law makers), but:China, so: Bad.
TikTok is owned by a Chinese government and collects their users data.
Just like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, etc.