TikTok
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Repeat after me: China is an asshole.
For years, TikTok has responded to data privacy concerns by promising that information gathered about users in the United States is stored in the United States, rather than China, where ByteDance, the video platform's parent company, is located. But according to leaked audio from more than 80 internal TikTok meetings, China-based employees of ByteDance have repeatedly accessed nonpublic data about US TikTok users — exactly the type of behavior that inspired former president Donald Trump to threaten to ban the app in the United States.
The recordings, which were reviewed by BuzzFeed News, contain 14 statements from nine different TikTok employees indicating that engineers in China had access to US data between September 2021 and January 2022, at the very least. Despite a TikTok executive’s sworn testimony in an October 2021 Senate hearing that a “world-renowned, US-based security team” decides who gets access to this data, nine statements by eight different employees describe situations where US employees had to turn to their colleagues in China to determine how US user data was flowing. US staff did not have permission or knowledge of how to access the data on their own, according to the tapes.
“Everything is seen in China,” said a member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety department in a September 2021 meeting. In another September meeting, a director referred to one Beijing-based engineer as a “Master Admin” who “has access to everything.” (While many employees introduced themselves by name and title in the recordings, BuzzFeed News is not naming anyone to protect their privacy.)
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I feel proud that I've never once gone to tiktok.com or whatever the app would be. I know many videos online are hosted/streamed on it, though.
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FCC Member Calls On Apple, Google to Banish TikTok
“It is clear that TikTok poses an unacceptable national security risk due to its extensive data harvesting being combined with Beijing’s apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data,” Federal Communications Commission member Brendan Carr wrote in a letter to Apple and Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc.
Apple and Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
TikTok, which has denied sharing user data with the Chinese government, said earlier this month that traffic for all U.S. user data is now being routed through the cloud infrastructure of its partner Oracle Corp.
The U.S. military has already banned its members from using TikTok on government-issued devices, citing the security risk.
Former President Donald Trump sought a broad ban on the popular app, but executive actions implementing his order were ultimately blocked by two separate federal-court rulings.
The Biden administration rescinded the Trump executive orders last year and decided not to pursue appeals, instead saying it would study whether TikTok and other apps controlled by foreign adversaries pose a security threat to the U.S.
But since then, the Biden administration has moved cautiously on efforts to tighten federal rules addressing national-security risks posed by foreign-owned apps, triggering criticism that the administration isn’t taking the issue seriously.
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I feel proud that I've never once gone to tiktok.com or whatever the app would be. I know many videos online are hosted/streamed on it, though.
I feel proud that I've never once gone to tiktok.com or whatever the app would be.
Try this sample
Link to video -
I feel proud that I've never once gone to tiktok.com or whatever the app would be.
Try this sample
Link to video -
I feel proud that I've never once gone to tiktok.com or whatever the app would be. I know many videos online are hosted/streamed on it, though.
I feel proud that I've never once gone to tiktok.com or whatever the app would be. I know many videos online are hosted/streamed on it, though.
You're way too old. Not to worry, though - your kids will be on it before you know it!
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I love how this is what we complain about when we complain about TikTok.
It's like raging about the fact that O.J. didn't get any traffic tickets in the white Bronco. It's far worse than this, folks. -
I love how this is what we complain about when we complain about TikTok.
It's like raging about the fact that O.J. didn't get any traffic tickets in the white Bronco. It's far worse than this, folks.@Aqua-Letifer said in TikTok:
It's far worse than this, folks.
What other “far worse” things about TikTok do you have in mind?
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@Aqua-Letifer said in TikTok:
It's far worse than this, folks.
What other “far worse” things about TikTok do you have in mind?
@Aqua-Letifer said in TikTok:
It's far worse than this, folks.
What other “far worse” things about TikTok do you have in mind?
I was more wondering about the OJ thing. I doubt Aqua buys into that conspiracy theory that he killed that woman, so I wonder what OJ did that was so much worse than traffic violations.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in TikTok:
It's far worse than this, folks.
What other “far worse” things about TikTok do you have in mind?
@Aqua-Letifer said in TikTok:
It's far worse than this, folks.
What other “far worse” things about TikTok do you have in mind?
TikTok isn't like Facebook or Instagram. When you download TikTok, you don't need to follow anyone to start being fed content—it requires no personal connection at all, ever. Its algorithm starts with feeding you a kind of video best-of in the For You feed, and starts learning real damn fast what you respond to.
This is very problematic for three reasons.
First, there's no incentive to build any kind of follower base. It's not needed—you can get fed content that'll keep you hooked on the platform, which is how most users interact with the app—without making any personal connections with anyone. It's antisocial media. (Yes, there's a new Friends tab. No, they're not interested in getting more users to check it. It's all about eyeballs on the screen, not cultivating relationships.)
Second, these platforms are designed to make you addicted to the dopamine hit from likes and shares. At least with the older platforms, a viral post often leads to more followers, more conversations, etc., which is sort of social. With TikTok, the follower count isn't the goal, it's the likes and shares from friends, randos, who knows, who cares. All of the social media engagement addiction, none of the social.
Third, there's a massive disparity between what we respond to, and what's good for us. Building relationships, discussing and sharing things in a considered way, and learning new things are all good for us. Content that invokes immediate reactions also makes us feel depressed, angry, envious, or just empty. But the TikTok algorithm isn't coded to discern between these things. All it cares about is establishing a content hierarchy, tailored to you, to keep your eyeballs on the screen for as long as possible. And what keeps you on the platform—invoking an immediate reaction—is generally quite bad for you.
Nevermind the tracking issues, it's highly addictive and generally does a great deal more harm than provide anything worthwhile—especially for kids. It's visual stimulation fentanyl and it's driving people crazy. All social media can lead to this but TikTok is in an entirely different class.
