How TikTok Exposed the Truth About Data Privacy in the US and China
Do you really know how your data is collected, used, and protected by different platforms and governments? In this post, I will explore the lie that we have true data privacy in the west.
Privacy is a very important issue when it comes to our online activities, as the more data that we share with outsiders, the more we are susceptible to that data being used nefariously.
On March 23, 2023, the CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, was summoned before the United States Congress to discuss how TikTok collects and uses the data of its users in the US. The congressional hearing was electrified to say the least, with members of Congress accusing TikTok of selling the private data of journalists on the app to the Chinese government for malicious purposes, among other things.
While there are legitimate concerns as to how TikTok collects its data, and the entities that fund its operations, I feel like this issue has been blown out of proportion by the ongoing tensions between the United States and China. As a result, the US is using TikTok as a scapegoat to further its trade war with China by calling for the outright ban of TikTok.
I have come to this conclusion due to the following reasons. Firstly, the track record of American companies when it comes to privacy is shoddy at best (Facebook, Cambridge Analytica). In April 2017, the United States Congress voted to allow collect and sell their customer’s browsing data (When it comes to internet privacy, be very afraid, analyst suggests – Harvard Gazette ) to who knows who for who knows what purpose (probably to sell us more things that we don't need) but only now congress seems to have an issue with TikTok gathering user data unlike many of the other popular apps and platforms that we use today. If the United States Congress really cared about the privacy of its citizens, it would attempt to systematically change the practices surrounding the privacy of data in this current climate instead of singling out one company based on notions of xenophobia and tribalism. In fact, China passed a data privacy law in 2021 called the Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China (PIPL) that has even been touted as stronger than the US's laws that they have in place when it comes to the protection of its citizen’s data (PIPL: China Data Privacy Law (Personal Information Protection Law) (pernot-leplay.com)).
Secondly, there have been rumblings of some companies, such as Meta, actually having lobbied the US Government to take this course of action against TikTok as a way to remove competition from the market. This should not be a thing to rejoice over as explained previously, Meta itself has a track record for violating its user’s privacy, so providing a monopoly to a company like Meta to have a full market share for their product should be highly concerning. It has been stated that American-backed companies such as Meta, Google and Snapchat (see above for the risks surrounding these American companies) have the most to gain financially with this proposed ban of TikTok (TikTok ban will benefit Meta, Google and Snap the most: Bernstein (yahoo.com) ) so it begs the question, is the proposed ban of TikTok really about securing the privacy of Americans data or is this just another ploy to remove competition?
As I outlined previously, privacy on the internet is systematically flawed in The United States. Forcing one company to cease operations only addresses the symptoms of the issue, to address the root issue, there must be a complete overhaul of our ideas and notions that surround "privacy" in this current day and age.