TikTok Ban: Data Privacy and National Security Vs. Freedom of Speech?

TikTok has been on the crosshairs of US legislators for quite sometime now, during former president Donald Trump term he favored a TikTok ban now he opposes a ban as he challenges Biden in the 2024 race for the White House. The US congress has just passed a resolution  known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act passed the House by a 325-65 vote with overwhelming support from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, it must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Joe Biden before it can take effect. Even TikTok's CEO Shou Zi Chew answering the legislators question during a recent House Energy and Commerce Committee, regarding data security and Chinese intrusion(TikTok is owned by a Chinese company) into the US tiktok users data is not enough. TikTok's Project Texas, a massive investment by tiktok to transfer US users data on servers base in the US was quickly dismissed, the idea that these features could meaningfully combat potential national security risks, did not even bother to debate the policy on whether it will solve their fears or not. This concerns may be justified given TikTok's conduct in the past have fueled the perception of risk, such as reports that the company surveilled journalists. But the reality of the tech sector is that eliminating risk is an impossible fantasy, even companies who spent billions are falling victim to hacks by foreign adversaries.


US Government's Concern
So why does US want's to ban TikTok? The five hour testimony of CEO Shou Zi Chew during the congressional hearing touched on different topics, but some of the main focuses included the following:

• Addictiveness. While TikTok's addictiveness is a concern, it has a feature that tells users to leave the application after 60 minutes.
• Misinformation. TikTok claims it does not allow misinformation as part of its community guidelines and actively works to remove it. It also does not accept political ads.
• Children's safety. There are many concerns over children abusing or misusing the application. However, TikTok has different UX for users under 13. For example, they cannot go viral and cannot use the private messaging feature.
• Mental health. Content that promotes eating disorders, tobacco use or suicide is a concern. However, TikTok -- like most social media companies -- has a content moderation policy and aims to remove all violating content.
• Selling data. Gathering and selling data that TikTok doesn't need to make a profit is a concern. TikTok claims it does not sell data to data brokers.
• Data security. Data leaks are a concern. Data leaks are a risk with any online service and common with social media. TikTok -- and other social media platforms -- use data access protocols to protect and organize data into categories of sensitivity.

What do TikTok collect after signing up with app? In it's Privacy Policy, it states that when you create an account, upload content, or interact with the platform in any way, TikTok can and will collect the following:

• Any account and profile information (name, age, username, phone number, profile image, email, and password).
• Any user-generated content uploaded to the app (audio recording, photos, comments, and videos).
• Direct messages.
• Any information used to purchase something through the app (card numbers, names, information from third-party payment apps, billing, and shipping address).
• Your contacts.
• Your IP address, time zone, device IDs, network type, and your device model.
• Your approximate location and, with your permission, your precise location.

This are normal information other social media apps or any other app and website collects, according to a study, TikTok's data harvesting is consistent with social-networking industry norms. The US concern rest in Chinese government can access US users data. But The US government also can and has accessed user data from U.S.-based tech companies such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple and all other social media apps. A recently declassified government report confirms that the US intelligence community purchases commercially available information on Americans personal information from third party data brokers and what are these information's? It can include your location, credit history, insurance claims, criminal records, employment history, income ethnicity, purchase history, and personal interests. So this "concern" are absolutely not unique to TikTok, such as content moderation, algorithmic unfairness, and data privacy concerns.


So what's really behind the push to ban TikTok?
The youth is the biggest factor that delivered Biden to victory over Trump during the 2020 election, they even established the TikTok for Biden to persuade the youth to come out and vote which they did. But the policy Biden Administration supported disillusioned the youth it all went south when the war on Gaza started with the youth seeing what's happening in the ground via TikTok thta youth support for Biden fell dramatically. Because the government cannot influence TikTok the information coming out of Gaza was mind numbing and staggering. For the first time the narrative about the conflict in Palestine was laid bare not only for the youth to see but for the whole world to witness. more than 70% of Americans express support towards the Palestinian cause base on surveys conducted in social media, with TikTok having the highest respondent it is clear to the administration and those who wants to control the narrative that TikTok must be stopped. But the youth and the world has already learned that mainstream media is not an honest broker when it comes truth and honesty in reporting, it is always skewed to who owns the media outfit and what interest they serve and protect. They forgot to realize that they are no longer the sole source of information, they forgot that it's the Information Age now, where social media can deliver what is happening around the globe in real time. And this is what scares them.


Conclusion
What the US government's concern regarding TikTok can be seriously address if it enacted a law that will protect internet users data, unlike Europe which have data protection laws that govern the sharing or selling of personal data. There are federal laws that apply to specific data like medical (HIPPA), student records (FERPA), consumer credit (FCRA), VHS rentals (VPPA), among others, there is no US laws that give Americans the right to access, delete, or control the movements of their personal information, which could create privacy and national security risks. Because smartphones and internet use are highly ingrained into everyday life, it's almost impossible to stop electronic devices from constantly releasing your personal information. The lack of privacy laws allows companies and the government to have full reign over user's personal data. Even if the ban on TikTok pass into law will it really stop the Chinese from getting hold of Americans personal data when there are data brokers who sells it in the market? This ban on TikTok is not really about protecting our personal data from foreign entities or National Security but to control the narrative and stifle our First Amendment Rights.



Source:
https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/TikTok-bans-explained-Everything-you-need-to-know
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what-happened-to-tiktok-s-project-texas
https://www.vox.com/technology/24100104/banning-tiktok-us-senate-ineffective-and-harmful-bill
https://www.zdnet.com/article/tiktok-bans-explained-everything-you-need-to-know/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/07/joe-biden-youth-vote-gaza-climate-change
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