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The battle for TikTok and the role of the boss of Facebook is putting an end to Chinese tech companies.
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For many Chinese technology companies, access to the Western market and the United States has been the ultimate reward.
TikTok became one of the biggest success stories of the Covid-19 shutdown. The app is the fastest growing app in the world and is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.
TikTok, which offers users short, more or less entertaining videos, has created concerns in several countries.
The fears of the Facebook boss
In the fall of 2019, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivered a speech on freedom of expression at Georgetown University. In a short but concrete passage of the speech, he noted that Chinese tech companies like TikTok are not as committed to free speech as Facebook. He further said that TikTok is a threat to American values and America’s technological hegemony. According to various sources, Zuckerberg is said to have communicated this opinion to various politicians and bureaucrats.
Also read: Trump bans Tiktok and WeChat in 45 days
The authorities are waiting
Towards the end of 2019, the US authorities expressed concern about the application.
The Pentagon has banned US military personnel from using the app on wearable devices provided by the US military.This spring, several US and Indian officials have expressed concern that TikTok will share the information they collect with the Chinese authorities.
TikTok and its owner company reject this.
Propaganda platform?
Concerns have also been raised that the app could be used to spread propaganda and that the platform would censor content to reassure Chinese government leaders and authorities.
Of course, TikTok has also rejected this.
At the same time, the moderators working for TikTok are known to have a fairly comprehensive list of topics to censor. This list covers everything from quilts and necklaces, to which flags and pennants can be displayed. It is difficult to know to what extent censorship of political messages has risen, but there is little doubt that it has.
Also read: TikTok is free from critical care in Norway: no one has assessed security
Big brother see you
In accordance with TikTok’s privacy policy, the application collects the user’s location data and internet address, and also tracks the type of device used to access the platform. TikTok also stores your “browsing” and search history, as well as the content of the messages you exchange with other people on the app.
A few weeks ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that as of November 2019, TikTok had actively bypassed a privacy measure in Google’s Android operating system.
Bypassing the measure allowed ByteDance to collect unique information from millions of mobile devices. This data allowed the app to track users, without giving them the option to opt out of monitoring.
Harvest
The application collected the MAC addresses of the users. This address, which is unique to each device, is assigned to Internet-ready devices and does not change. The address is most often used for advertising purposes, but the use of TikTok was hidden through a layer of encryption in the app. The information is said to have been shared with ByteDance.
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The concerns surrounding TikTok’s collection of information are not unfounded. China’s Intelligence Law of 2017 sets clear requirements for Chinese businesses and citizens to cooperate with the Communist Party and its state institutions.
Although other social networks should collect information about users, they are not subject to a law that requires them to share information with the Chinese authorities.
It affects American universities
The new security law introduced for Hong Kong (Hong Kong Security Law) on June 30, 2020 is so intrusive that it has had a ripple effect on the way American universities choose to conduct teaching. Several American universities have been forced to impose a series of restrictions in relation to the debates and discussions in class.
Some universities will also put up posters explaining that the course will include topics that the Chinese authorities may perceive as politically sensitive. Other colleges will anonymize assignments, facilitate anonymous participation in digital teaching, and not anonymous online discussions.
Follow-up measures
These measures are based on previous experiences with the Chinese authorities and their monitoring of students, debaters and journalists. There are several cases in which Chinese students and debate participants returning from studies or debates in the United States are arrested and imprisoned.
Also read: – Download TikTok if you want your private information to be in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party
There is little evidence to suggest that the Chinese authorities have honorable intentions.
Facebook vs TikTok
Of course, Zuckerberg has a personal and financial interest in limiting one of his biggest competitors.
Still, there is little reason to believe that the Chinese government will not use an app like TikTok to illegally oppress and obtain information about individuals, both inside and outside of China.
TikTok and ByteDance are not necessarily part of this, but there is little doubt that the app is used to censor the flow of information, map users, and ultimately use the information to prosecute dissidents.
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