TikTok Finally Admits To Chinese Employees Accessing U.S. User Data, Prompting Many To Call For It's Ban
TikTok, the oft-controversial social media app that was formerly known as Musical.ly, has recently admitted something that it has continuously denied for years.
When the app first started to take off more in America after its rebrand, there was a large amount of concern over the origins of the app and its parent company being based in China, with much of the user data being stored on Chinese servers.
Famously, the app was threatened with a ban by then U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020 with those same security and data concerns being listed as the reason why. The news of the data came in and immediately charged many in the Republican legislative base that has largely been anti-TikTok.
For years, TikTok has assured lawmakers that user data – and business operations – were effectively firewalled from the People’s Republic of China. I’m working with @MarcoRubio in light of reports neither claim is true.
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) July 5, 2022
TikTok Confesses US Data Accessed In ChinaAfter previously denying personal data of US users was accessible to China-based employees, TikTok has now admitted that it in fact is – sparking calls for the Chinese-owned platform to face a Congressional hearing. pic.twitter.com/tJxoIl54Oc
— Koustuv 🇮🇳 🧭 (@srdmk01) July 5, 2022
The news reinvigorated the debate on whether or not the Chinese app should be banned in America as it is in other countries, most notably India.
There were also individual calls to action from prominent figures in tech and law asking for Google and Apple to remove the application from their app stores, severely limiting the amount of reach it has and the data it could harvest from people.
“#TikTok responded to the senators that actually, yes, some #China-based employees can access some information on #US-based users--but still insisted the data isn’t shared w/ the #CCP.”#India banned the app.#America MUST also.ASAP!#nationalsecurity https://t.co/dFplwbjaT2
— Chris Fenton (@TheDragonFeeder) July 6, 2022
Is time up for TikTok? FCC Commissioner @BrendanCarrFCC is asking Apple and Google to remove the platform from their app stores, calling it "a sophisticated tool" for harvesting user data to be seen in China. pic.twitter.com/EJ6RiNdr3u
— TechCheck (@CNBCTechCheck) June 29, 2022
#BREAKING: Government of India bans 59 #Chinese Mobile Apps which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order. Banned Apps include #TikTok, #ShareIt, #UCBrowser, #WeChat, #Weibo. Here is the complete list. 👇 pic.twitter.com/m1RpVLc9kR
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) June 29, 2020
TikTok finna be the fall of this country. Better ban that’s shit like India before it’s too late bih
— WeGotTheFeet (@wgtfent) July 5, 2022
It's unknown currently if the Biden administration will respond to this recent development — or if it'll be anything like his predecessor's stance.
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IfYaDVote-ReplyToWhy
When very loaded language is in the KYM article headline followed by the ones calling to action are very partisan leaning, I have to check to see if this isn't just demagoguery.
The article featured in this KYM article makes a lot of "they can do this…in this specific instance" or "may be able to this…if this strict requirement is met", but this KYM report seems to carefully exclude the clarifications after the ellipses. The details that explain TikTok is only allowed to access this data through very restrictive US-policy security approval that was set-up for security reasons back during the Trump Administration, and further expanded towards 2022. As well as a reiteration repeated established that the data has been protectively housed in the US.
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IfYaDVote-ReplyToWhy
So then why are a bunch of Republican Senators calling for a complete removal of a Social Media App so noted for being popular among Progressives? If this is about mistrust in Chinese software companies giving data to Chinese government, why aren't they pushing for these same restrictions among many other widely popular Chinese-made, US used companies that follow the same policies? Why are many of the Rep senators calling for an investigative probe on whether TikTok is in violation of security, but then immediately allege that they are before the probe even is approved?
Maybe because it's an election year, and this is appropriate timing to accuse the Biden administration of "weakening government security". A lot of speculation can be made. One thing for certain, is that I feel like KYM is really pushing for misinformation in the way they are presenting their article.
VPhantom
Oh sure, when the Chinese do it it's suddenly bad, but when the multiple U.S. agencies do it it's a PATRIOTIC and glorious duty for the sake of safeguarding everyone's FREEDOM.
Soxar
Please tell me nobody is actually surprised by this
supergoron
Nobody is actually surprised by this.