Why Are You (Still) Using TikTok?

Are dance challenges really worth giving away all that data to China?

TikTok has emerged as one of the most popular content-sharing apps among Gen-Z and social media influencers. Despite media coverage about the company’s mishandling of user data, over 689 million people across the world (still) use the app and give away their data to the Chinese government and other unwanted third parties.

The social media app, owned by Chinese-based company ByteDance, puts all of its users at risk of having their data shared with or extracted by the Chinese government because of China's National Intelligence Law, passed in 2017.

The law allows the government to compel any Chinese company to provide practically any information it requests, including data on foreign citizens.

TDLR: By using TikTok, you are willingly giving your data to one of the most totalitarian governments in the world that has shown zero regards for human rights.

Considering the recent anniversary speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping who sent a very stern message to all of China’s “bullies,” saying: “Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of Steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people."

Charming! 🙄

Here are some things you should know about TikTok before you consider using it.

1. TikTok’s newest update (which was done silently) allows the app to collect your biometric data, which includes your face prints and voiceprints. 

2. In a post by the Washington Times, researchers found that the TikTok “Allow access to contacts” option bypassed privacy protection. This means that the app puts all your contacts at risk for malicious cyberattacks because of a vulnerability in their code, which can allow an attacker to build a database of user details and their respective phone numbers. This makes you and your close friends and family vulnerable to any malicious activities that an attacker can decide to indulge themselves in.

3. You may be thinking that all social media apps are the same in terms of collecting your data but what makes TikTok stick out like a sore thumb is that it does not offer options for enhancing your privacy. You are not allowed to adjust things like your ad preferences, and always must take what they decide to serve you (whether it’s triggering, relevant, or otherwise).

4. Your in-app messages are not safe. TikTok is not end-to-end encrypted and the app collects the contents of your messages - to use as they please. 

5. Finally, and somewhat totally unsurprisingly, TikTok has a history of censoring political content on its platform. For example, the company suspended a 17-year-old student for posting a video about the Chinese oppression of its Uighur Muslim population. TikTok claimed it didn’t suspend Aziz’s account for its content, but “due to a human moderation error.” Yeah, right!

Look, I am not saying that TikTok was created as a mass data collection effort by the Chinese government but given how easy the company makes it for Chinese intelligence to gather data from hundreds of millions of people across the globe, I also honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it were the case.

If you want to use TikTok (for whatever reason), I am not going to tell you not to. Just know that everything you record, save, and share on the app has the potential to go straight into an intelligence database of one of the most totalitarian governments in the world (as well as anyone who pays for it).

Stay safe out there! 😎

Love, peace & anarchy,

Alex Lielacher