As TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew prepares for his first congressional grilling on Thursday, much of the focus will undoubtedly be on the short-form video app’s potential national security risks. Concerns about TikTok’s connections to China have led governments worldwide to ban the app on official devices, and those fears have factored into the increasingly tense US-China relationship.
The following year, Pellaeon Lin, a Taiwan-based researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, performed another technical analysis that reached similar conclusions. But even if TikTok collects about the same amount of information as Facebook or Twitter, that’s still quite a lot of data, including information about the videos you watch, comments you write, private messages you send, and — if you agree to grant this level of access — your exact geolocation and contact lists.
If the government and CNN agree on something we’re being lied to
Hope for the better of this our youthful age🙏
What’s the matter? TikTok doesn’t allow NSA total access to their data for surveillance of all their users?
Agreeing that the spotlight will undoubtedly be on security issues, it's important not to forget the potential for TikTok to be a platform for positive growth and expression. It has already made strides in facilitating collaboration and connection for its users.