More than any other app or website right now, even Google, TikTok is absolutely killing it. TikTok trends get so big and rag in so many people that their effects often spill out into the real world, such as with some people crediting the video-sharing app for the success of the new Minions movie, thanks to its Dress up for Minions trend. The flip of this, however, is that all of this leads to a lot of data flowing through TikTok’s servers and this has some governments worried.
Last week TikTok said that certain employees in China can access the information that is collected on TikTok users in the US, which ruffled some feathers.
Nine US Senators sent ByteDance Ltd. a letter asking key questions about these employees. The letter included questions like, “Do China-based employees have access to US users’ data? What role do those employees play in shaping TikTok’s algorithm? Is any of that information shared with the Chinese government?”
ByteDance has given assurances that the employees who can access user data from the US do not work with the Chinese government and has said that it is actively working with the US government to strengthen data security about that information.
This week, however, the scrutiny came a little closer to home for TikTok as an Australian Senator tweeted that, following the revelation about US data being accessible in mainland China, he had written to TikTok to ask similar questions about the data of Australian TikTok users.
TikTok has long come under scrutiny both in the US and in Australia. This ties into a wider trend that sees nations increasingly interested in what they call data sovereignty, which is the idea that any data on national citizens should be held within national borders. With TikTok, however, this will only be amplified by a growing fear of China due to the country’s growing strength and rather far-reaching and invasive national surveillance systems and networks.
TikTok has always downplayed criticisms relating to its data security practices but if the pressure continues to grow from within governments, we may soon see national TikTok servers set up in different countries around the world.
If you are a big TikTok user and you’d like to offset your privacy concerns by making some cash money, you should check out our guide to making money on TikTok.
