Kristen Gyles | TikTok playing ping pong with impressionable minds?

Recently, TikTok’s CEO, Shou Chew, appeared before the United States Congress to address criticisms relating to TikTok’s collection and handling of user data in light of the proposition for TikTok to be banned in the US. It was interesting enough to generate interest from young TikTok users across the world, many of whom have dismissed the concerns as either the miserable cries of old people who are simply out of touch or as anti-Chinese, racist hysteria. However true either of these may be, many governments across the world have banned TikTok, whether wholesale or in part, some citing concerns about the security of user data and others citing national security concerns. Could so many countries have got it wrong?

TikTok is a social media application that allows users to create and share short videos and to watch videos shared by others. Many other social media sites provide the same service - digital entertainment and edutainment for users. However, TikTok is unique in that it is perhaps the most widely used social media application owned by a Chinese company. This is important in light of mounting concerns that TikTok and its parent company, Byte Dance, are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese government can access the data of TikTok users. These concerns have arisen partly because China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law requires Chinese companies to assist and cooperate with national intelligence efforts by providing data to the Chinese government when asked.

Of course, the Chinese government could choose to access the data of unsuspecting people across the world and use the data for nefarious purposes. However, as you are perhaps thinking, this threat exists for practically all social and other apps that employ Chinese employees. From this standpoint, there seems to be some element of hypocrisy at play. Nonetheless, not all countries have singled out TikTok. India, for example, banned TikTok back in 2020 but also banned 58 other Chinese apps on the charge that users’ data was being covertly transmitted to servers outside India.

NOT DOING ENOUGH

An argument that has found prominence since the Congressional hearing is that TikTok is not doing enough to moderate the content posted on its platform, resulting in the spread of CCP propaganda. So in a nutshell, there is a lingering fear that young, impressionable American minds will be targeted with content that will make them reject the beloved American dream and fall in love, instead, with a Chinese, communist way of life.

Yes, some content can be classified as being objectively harmful. TikTok has been criticized for not doing enough to remove harmful content such as videos promoting eating disorders and videos encouraging reckless driving. But why is it felt that people are so fickle minded that they can’t make basic decisions either about what they like to do for fun or about their political affiliations without first being programmed by a TikTok video? We all are, to some extent, impressionable, but only the most pliable of halfwits would come across a TikTok video putting forward a totally baseless perspective and accept it simply because they saw it.

As an avid TikTok user, I have come across content ranging from educational videos teaching me how to sew a button to videos telling me all about how black people are the lost Jews. None of these videos has harmed me. I can utilise my God-given brain to evaluate ideas and to accept or reject them accordingly. I am not unique in this regard. The world simply doesn’t exist to reinforce our views or to protect us from the so-called harmful views of others.

Unfortunately, touchy topics like those surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 US election, which carry controversial hot takes, haven’t done much to help clear TikTok from the allegation of doing little to curb the spread of propaganda. While the TikTok CEO gave assurances throughout the hearing regarding the company’s current content-moderation mechanisms, he suggested that TikTok is “a place for freedom of expression”. (Of course, use of such ‘foul language’ in 2023, especially among US Congress folk, may not be of any help in averting the TikTok ban.)

OTHER CONCERNS

Most of the other concerns relating to TikTok relate to the social media landscape, generally. For example, it is somewhat disingenuous to raise the issues of screen time addiction and cyberbullying as being TikTok specific when these issues have existed ever since the emergence of social media.

That being said, the data-privacy concerns are certainly valid. TikTok has faced criticism for its data-privacy practices, including collecting user data such as location and device information. For instance, it is alleged that TikTok employees accessed the IP addresses of US journalists who were using the app in order to determine whether they were in the same location as employees suspected of leaking confidential information. There have also been concerns about TikTok’s handling of user-generated content and allegations of user data being shared with third-party companies.

All things considered, it may seem as though we are at the mercy of those to whom we have turned over our data. However, all hope isn’t lost. We can still monitor what information we turn over to companies that make money from advertising to us. Neither TikTok nor the wider world needs to know where you vacationed last week or what you order for lunch on Mondays. Keeping that in mind should reduce the anxiety associated not only with TikTok’s data-security measures, but with those of virtually all social media platforms.

- Kristen Gyles is a free-thinking public affairs opinionator. Send feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com.