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TikTok has been under fire before. But make no mistake, this time is different, this time is worse. That has nothing to do with TikTok and everything to do with China, of course. If you want to build a strong technology brand in Western democracies, this is not a good time to link up with Beijing. However, for TikTok, the result is the same: the headlines call users to remove the app immediately.
That was fully in evidence with TikTok’s defense against its ban in India last week. “I can confirm that the Chinese government never asked us for TikTok data from Indian users,” CEO Kevin Mayer told the Indian government. “If we receive such a request in the future,” he added, “we would not comply.” That information, says TikTok, is stored in Singapore anyway, out of Beijing’s reach.
According to Chinese state-controlled media reports, TikTok owner ByteDance has invested more than $ 1 billion to build its vast Indian user base, and is now facing losses of up to $ 6 billion, as hundreds of millions of users are cut off. Initially, it seemed that the restrictions would simply stop the new facilities. TikTok saw more than 100 million downloads in May, double that in the US But it later became clear that access for existing users would also be restricted, cutting profits for countless influencers and video stars across the country. .
The ban in India has been in the news: The problems for TikTok, however, are much worse. This is likely just the beginning of a crackdown that has been going on for months or even years, and threatens to undermine the platform’s staggering success, becoming one of the stars far removed from the coronavirus blockade.
India’s broader ban was well received by United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who applauded the country’s “clean enforcement” approach and claimed that such apps serve as an extension of the “watchdog state” of China. For TikTok, this will increase the spectrum of the platform the Trump administration is targeting in the same way as other Chinese tech giants, with devastating consequences for its US user base.
Let’s put this in perspective. India not only banned TikTok, but also banned 58 other apps, including major titles from other Chinese tech giants. But the business impact on TikTok was greater than the rest combined. Similarly, TikTok made headlines when a new Apple iOS 14 beta privacy feature secretly caught the app reading the user’s clipboards. TikTok was not alone: many other well-known applications seemed to do the same. But none was news in the way TikTok had.
Being a viral success story is double-edged: the bigger you are, the harder you fall. Quite literal. A national security investigation into TikTok has been reported in the US, and there are reports that other countries are taking a look. The success that this video-sharing platform has enjoyed in the west is unique to such a Chinese app. It really competes for the youthful mindset with YouTube and Instagram. Its growth has been quite extraordinary.
The serious criticism of TikTok is divided into two large fields. First, that has not done enough to protect the privacy and security of your young audience. Reports and fines in the US, Regulatory warnings in the UK, have been affected by privacy flaws in the way the platform ensures that its viral appeal to children around the world is not become a facilitator of exploitation and abuse. This is quite clear, and the platform has been working to remedy these problems. A new Transparency Center, when available, will be part of this effort.
Secondly, we have security problems, which are much more complex. Again, however, TikTok is not alone. There has been a long-standing crackdown on Chinese tech players with alleged links to Beijing. But it is TikTok that, along with Huawei, stands out for the great attention it receives. The reason is very simple. Those are the two brands that have achieved gravitational escape velocity to compete head-to-head with American players for the same eyeballs and advertising dollars.
Tik Tok does They have security problems: there have been reports that the platform has accepted and solved. But now detailed investigations into how the app operates have led to accusations of spyware and data theft. It is not so simple. You must remember that much of the app industry relies on monetizing user data to drive targeted advertising that becomes a great source of revenue.
Much of what TikTok does is common across other platforms – gaining an understanding of its users, their phones, their likes and dislikes, and behaviors. But in addition to the broader problems, the reverse engineering of the platform shows this and the optics are terrible. One of the original Reddit threads that is now a few months old has fueled multiple reports. TikTok goes too far, but many other applications do the same. To understand whether this is a genuine security problem at the nation-state level, as alleged, one would need to delve much deeper into those findings. Look at this space.
TikTok has yet to respond to a request for comment on these security claims.
As I’ve reported in the past week, past concerns about TikTok have been ignored by its hundreds of millions of mostly young users. But the feeling you have now is that this could be changing. Those reports are finding a viral audience, being shared by influencers and commentators who appeal to the same user base. In the same way that Zoom acted when security issues arose after its star lock success, TikTok must deal with these issues. And fast.
In the coming weeks, the real threat to TikTok would be to talk about action in the US or Europe, using privacy or security as a trigger, to limit access or regulate the app. There is still no sign of that happening. But India’s action, fueled by its own political tensions with China, has made such a response more likely.
Fully aware of all these moving parts, Facebook, the last viral opportunist, has responded: Lasso is being closed, Reels is being denounced. There is clear envy in the tech community in the United States that TikTok has created a new category of killers that does not belong to one of the California giants. There will now be a significant investment to take advantage of the TikTok issues to see if that can be fixed.
As things stand, TikTok can probably rectify the situation Yes Act quickly and openly. You need to publicly and vocally distance yourself from Beijing. You must acknowledge and not deny key security concerns, and post a recovery plan. And, unlike the iOS clipboard problem, you should be very, VERY confident that it delivers on its commitments. Until that happens, the headlines will keep coming.
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