The video-sharing social media platform is the # 1 app on the Google Play Store and # 2 on the Apple App Store, and it has been downloaded more than 165 million times by US consumers. The app is now a source for everything from viral dance routines to jokes about the president, and has supported the lavish lifestyles of teen influencers living in Los Angeles “collaboration houses”.
But TikTok’s success, and its status as the first Chinese-owned social media platform to gain widespread adoption outside of its local market, is looking increasingly subdued.
US officials say they are considering banning the app because of security concerns related to TikTok and its parent company, Beijing-based internet company ByteDance, following a similar decision by India. Meanwhile, at least one U.S. corporation is already taking steps to restrict use of the app on the company’s phones. The situation has TikTok struggling to try to demonstrate its reliability.
At the same time, the company teamed up with other big tech companies to withdraw from Hong Kong after China imposed a controversial national security law. And TikTok’s competitors have proven eager to jump on their challenges and try to win over their audience with similar offers.
“One of the things that worries me is that it’s against the spirit of the Internet,” said Mark Lemley, a Stanford law professor who teaches law on the Internet.
“I think something significant is lost there if the only apps we get are apps from the US or apps from approved countries. We lose out as consumers in technology that people like … but ultimately, the US. It also loses financially, because we have been the great promoter of the Internet. “
Possible problems ahead
TikTok has already lost access to one of the world’s largest digital markets.
India banned TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps last month after a border confrontation between India and China, citing a “threat to sovereignty and integrity”. The app had been downloaded in India more than 660 million times since 2017, and some of its top stars live in the country.
Now, Trump administration officials are considering a similar measure.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Laura Ingraham of Fox News earlier this month that the White House is “analyzing” the ban on Chinese apps, including TikTok, and said US officials are “taking this very seriously” . Pompeo added that people should only download TikTok “if they want their private information to be in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.”
On Wednesday, Pompeo said, “We hope to have a set of decisions soon” regarding the application.
“We are working on a process in which all relevant agencies and the private sector are saying their part,” Pompeo said in a live interview with The Hill. “Whether it’s Tiktok or any of the other Chinese communications platforms, applications, infrastructure, this administration has taken seriously the requirement to protect the American people from having their information end up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.”
American politicians have repeatedly criticized TikTok, accusing it of being a threat to national security because its parent company is based in China and could be forced to share data with the Chinese government. TikTok has called the concerns “unfounded” and security experts say it is not clear that The application presents a real national security problem.
Talking about the possible ban also comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and China over technology.
It’s not just the Trump administration: Lawmakers, including Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, have also introduced legislation that would ban TikTok from US government devices. Democratic and Republican national committees have warned their staff about using the app.
Wells Fargo (WFC) On Monday, it banned its employees from using the app on company devices due to security concerns.
“Due to concerns about TikTok’s security and privacy controls and practices, and because corporate-owned devices should be used only for company business, we have directed those employees to remove the app from their devices,” he said. a statement from a Wells Fargo spokesperson.
Wells Fargo’s decision came after Amazon (AMZN) He told employees to remove TikTok from work phones, but Amazon quickly backed down on the request, saying it had been sent “by mistake.”
Forced to address security concerns
For its part, TikTok says it operates separately from ByteDance.
TikTok’s US public policy chief Michael Beckerman said in a statement to CNN that there is a lot of “misinformation about TikTok right now.”
The company says it stores data from US users in Virginia, backed by Singapore, and “we work to minimize access in all regions,” Beckerman said. TikTok also hired an American CEO earlier this year, Disney (DIS) veteran Kevin Mayer, a move widely viewed, at least in part, as an effort to win over US lawmakers.
But it appears that even those steps may not be enough to alleviate security concerns that threaten to undermine its growth, so the company is now considering a corporate restructuring aimed at further distancing itself from China.
Changes could include establishing a headquarters for video enforcement outside of China or a new administrative board to distance service from the country, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The company is also rapidly expanding its presence in Washington DC. Beckerman said the company is creating so-called “Transparency Centers” in the country’s capital and in Los Angeles “so that lawmakers and invited experts can see for themselves how we moderate content and keep our users’ data safe.” .
“We remain fully committed to protecting the privacy and security of our users as we build a platform that inspires creativity and brings joy to hundreds of millions of people around the world,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to CNN the last week.
Stanford’s Lemley said the app’s dedicated teen fan base could be helpful, too.
“Is there a revolt among the world’s teens?” Lemley said. “I say that as a joke, but only as a joke. If a group of congressmen goes to their teenagers and tells them that they have banned their favorite application, there could be many rejections and that could be important.”
Ready-to-jump competition
From Facebook (full board) Efforts to beat TikTok with a copycat app have so far been unsuccessful, but new bans could change that.
Days after India banned TikTok, Facebook-owned Instagram began testing its own app, Reels, in the country. On Friday, Instagram said it is preparing to launch reels in the United States and 50 other countries, just a week after it began testing the platform in India.
Indian companies are also looking to profit. A local video-sharing app, Roposo, said that before the TikTok ban was announced, it had recorded 50 million downloads since its launch in 2014. After the announcement, the company said it received another 22 million downloads in just two days.
And while TikTok is still fully functional in the United States, some creators of the app are already trying to transition their audience to other platforms, including Instagram and YouTube, in anticipation of a ban.
YouTube plans to launch a competitor to TikTok, called Shorts, by the end of the year, according to The Information.
.
