By: Natalie Kempton
Governments continue to crack down on TikTok as the European Union is following in the footsteps of the U.S.’s ban on employees’ use of the growing app due to increasing cybersecurity risks the app seems to pose. TikTok is a popular social media app which relies on creating high levels of engagement through its users viewing, sharing, and making short videos with music or sound effects. There have been ongoing concerns about the app’s use of user data and the connection with its parent company, ByteDance, being of Chinese origin. Officials are specifically concerned that Chinese authorities can and will weaponize TikTok to influence what content is suggested to users and even hack into individual phones. TikTok adamantly denies this ability, however, contradicting reports surfaced in 2022 proving that the Chinese government does have this type of access and monitors nonpublic U.S. user data. The major question then is how will TikTok survive this growing distrust and increasing number of legislative bans from Western nations?
TikTok was first launched in 2016 by a Chinese parent company, ByteDance, however its present form came into fruition in 2018. The app is available in more than 150 different markets and saw around 1 billion global daily users at the start of 2022. Since any user with the app can gain popularity through making TikTok’s, the ultimate goal is to go viral so that your TikTok’s will spur imitations by other TikTok users. Each user has a “For You Page” where the TikTok algorithm will determine which short videos appear on their app. This page is extremely personalized, to the point that many users expressed fear that TikTok is tracking their conduct on other apps within their mobile devices. This user concern spurred regulators to be fearful of the app’s dangerous potential for the security of individuals and nations. Even though there has been immense controversy surrounding TikTok, this app continues to rapidly expand and is considered to be one of the most popular apps ever created.
TikTok has had a longstanding history of countries being wary of the application. For example, in 2020 India banned TikTok among tensions between India and China. Other countries, such as Indonesia, temporarily banned the app for inappropriate content. The U.S., on the other hand, first showed signs of wariness under Trump’s presidency in 2020 when the president publicly attacked the app and threatened to ban it. Trump asserted that the Chinese Communist Party had the ability to use data from the app to spy on U.S. citizens and that the app must be severed from its Chinese owner and incorporated as a U.S. company. One U.S. Senator even described TikTok as a “Trojan horse for the Chinese Communist party.” However, the proposed incorporation plan to make the app a U.S. corporation was stalled due to many legal challenges it has since posed.
Bipartisan concerns about TikTok resurfaced in the U.S. government in 2022 and in December, Congress officially approved an unprecedented ban in the lawmaker’s year-ending spending bill banning the use of TikTok on government devices. Though many states and government organizations including the state department, white house, and defense have barred their employees from using TikTok on work devices, this Congressional ban was a major step by the U.S. government against TikTok and inherently the Chinese government. This ban follows FBI director Christopher Wray’s warning to Congress in November 2022, of the potential ability for Chinese authorities to weaponize access to the app and carry out “influence operations” through controlling the content suggested to users or potentially hacking into individual devices. This ban shows strong bipartisan fear in the U.S. government of the effects of TikTok potentially spying on the greater U.S. public.
While the U.S. has long expressed concerns over the app, the EU executive branch has just recently, temporarily banned the use of TikTok beginning March 15, 2023, on employees’ phones due to perceived cybersecurity risks the app poses. Staff at the EU will have to uninstall TikTok from their personal phones with access to EU council services and their work phones. The main goal of this ban is to protect the commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which could exploit the commission. This ban comes at a time where the EU is cracking down on social media companies to better protect minors through legislation. EU Commissioner, Thierry Breton, recently warned that TikTok would be banned if it did not comply with the upcoming Digital Services Act, which will be instituted in summer 2023. This Act will impose sweeping requirements on social media platforms to remove any sort of disinformation and illegal content. Though the European commission claims they will constantly review other social media platforms, this recent ban shows an aggressive tone from the EU, specifically with regard to TikTok. TikTok has yet to reach the same massive size of companies such as Meta and Amazon, but continues to pose significant threats to regulators.
It is apparent that the major concern from the EU, U.S., and many other governments is that the Chinese government could and does use this app to obtain users’ data and advance its own interests. Though TikTok continues to deny these claims and only has admitted to direct employees having access to nonpublic data, reports surfaced in 2022 proving otherwise. These reports suggested that the Chinese government could access nonpublic user data through a “backdoor” and that the parent company, ByteDance, planned to do just that.
TikTok’s reaction to such reports and countries banning the app is one of disappointment. The head of public policy at TikTok said that the suspension of the use of the app on employees’ phones is “misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions.” TikTok insistently denies these claims and is asking Western nations and organizations such as the U.S. and EU to have formal meetings and discuss the future of the app within these nations. TikTok’s CEO is scheduled to appear before Congress in March 2023, and TikTok has publicly requested meetings with the EU to discuss parallel concerns. There is question over whether TikTok could eventually be banned nationwide in countries such as the U.S. and EU nations due to these augmenting concerns. Before any type of nationwide ban occurs, the public must have access to the specific concerns regulators are most fearful of. The 2022 reports are not enough for the public to make informed choices whether to use the app. Even if a nationwide ban is necessary in the future, the U.S. government and other nations should better inform the public of dangers the app can pose. In the coming months, it will be of peak interest how ByteDance responds to continuing bans and further research into the cybersecurity risks of TikTok.
Student Bio: Natalie Kempton is a second-year law student at Suffolk University Law School. She is a staff writer on the Journal of High Technology Law. Natalie received a Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies and Italian from the College of the Holy Cross.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHTL or Suffolk University Law School.
