Cover: TikTok Short Film Competition Winners Matej Rimanić, Nik Kranjec, Tim Hamilton, Claudia Cochet and Mabuta Motoki at the award ceremony. By Nik Kranjec Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 May 20, 2022
Maurício Pinheiro
You may already know that TikTok, that dance app, is being banned worldwide. You might want to know more about why that is.
TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, allowing users to share short and fun videos. The Chinese company ByteDance, behind the app, has become one of the most valuable technology companies in the world, thanks to its focus on artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms. However, the popularity of TikTok has also raised concerns regarding user privacy and security.
ByteDance collects a large amount of data from TikTok users, including information about Internet browsing history, location, device data and usage patterns. This data is used to feed artificial intelligence algorithms that could be used for malicious purposes such as facial recognition and mass surveillance. Furthermore, these algorithms can be used to classify users into different categories, such as socioeconomic level, cultural and intellectual level, sexual orientation, political interests, among others.
Such data collection is not unique to TikTok and is common practice among other major tech companies. However, concerns about ByteDance are compounded by the fact that the company is based in China, where privacy and free speech practices are very different from Western standards. Let George Orwell say so… In addition, China’s National Security Law, which came into effect in 2020, requires Chinese companies to have an obligation to provide information to the Chinese government when requested, which raises the possibility that the Chinese government to have access to data collected by TikTok. This possibility fuels concerns that ByteDance may be collecting users’ sensitive and private information for malicious purposes, such as mass surveillance or ideological classification of users.
It’s important to point out that while TikTok’s data collection may seem daunting, it’s common practice among other big tech companies like Facebook and Google. However, ByteDance has received increased attention due to its headquarters in China and its ties to the Chinese government. This has led some governments such as the United States and India to ban the app, citing concerns over national security and users’ privacy.
Despite these concerns, ByteDance maintains that the data collected by TikTok is primarily used to improve the user experience and customize recommended content. The company has also implemented security and privacy measures, as well as added a privacy information section to explain how the company collects and uses user data, such as data encryption and automatic deletion of inactive user data. Finally, ByteDance has established transparency centers to allow authorities to verify how data is collected and used. But will all that be enough?
This concern is exacerbated by the fact that China’s National Security Law, which took effect in 2020, requires Chinese companies to cooperate with government agencies on matters of national security. This means ByteDance could be forced to share data with Chinese authorities, including TikTok user information.
ByteDance has a highly skilled artificial intelligence team working on the development of voice, image and speech recognition technologies for a variety of applications including targeted advertising, facial recognition and mass surveillance. The company has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence, with the goal of creating a cutting-edge artificial intelligence platform to deliver innovative products and services. The data collected by TikTok directly feeds these artificial intelligence technologies.
The platform uses advanced algorithms to suggest videos that users might like based on their usage patterns, browsing history and location. The algorithm is trained on data collected from users, and the more data collected, the more accurate the video suggestion becomes. This allows the platform to offer highly personalized content to users, increasing its popularity.
Privacy and security risks for TikTok users are a real concern for governments in many Western countries. In 2021, the Indian government banned the app, citing concerns over cybersecurity and privacy of users’ data. The United States government has also banned the app for government employees, citing concerns about national security and privacy of user data. In 2021, the British government launched an investigation into TikTok’s privacy practices and it is being banned in several other countries as I write this article.
In addition to privacy and security risks, TikTok can also have negative effects on users’ mental health. The app encourages users to share content that may be considered funny, funny, or “trend”, and this can create social pressure for users to be accepted and popular. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem, especially among vulnerable and insecure teens. TikTok has also been criticized for encouraging teen exposure to inappropriate content, such as sexually suggestive or violent videos. Although the platform has implemented measures to remove this type of content, the risks still remain. In light of these risks, it is important for TikTok users and parents to be aware of these issues and take steps to ensure the platform is used safely and responsibly. This can include monitoring the content viewed by teens, implementing time limits on platform use, and open discussion about the use of personal data and privacy. Fortunately, Tik Tok has moved in this direction and created mechanisms to limit inappropriate content for minors.
And TikTok isn’t the only company collecting user data. Didi, better known as the Chinese “Uber”, recently acquired the urban passenger transport company in Brazil known as 99. The other day, my wife sent me her location on 99 and I received a link via WhatsApp with the address “https: //d.didiglobal.com/…”. It is likely that Didi Global is quietly collecting user data, just as Uber and Waze do, to feed its route optimization models, among others. This is understandable. However, what TikTok does with the collected data is still anyone’s guess, as are many other tech companies around the world and the big tech companies (Big Techs). By the way, did you know that Didi kicked Uber out of China? The difference between the business models of these companies and the reasons why Uber did not work in China will be topics for another article.
In Brazil, we have a similar problem that has been increasingly recognized as a widespread violation of privacy. Recently, I wrote about new companies in the Brazilian real estate market that use algorithms to collect private data from owners, such as name, address, phone, email, among others, from the Big Data ecosystem. These companies also extract data from real estate agencies that have a registration of the owners, relating them to the properties that are for sale. Once the owner and the property for sale are identified, this data is sold to property collectors (through monthly subscriptions to access the tools) who often harass the owners and family members with calls, SMS and emails requesting the registration of the property in your real estate. This is a clear violation of Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD), which protects the owners of these companies from the sale of personal data and those who hide behind technological tools without transparency. There are already legal precedents that grant landlords a favorable outcome based on the LGPD.
That’s why it’s important for governments and regulatory authorities to ensure that technology companies operate within ethical and legal guidelines. This may include creating more stringent laws and regulations regarding the collection and use of personal data, as well as conducting regular audits to ensure compliance with these regulations. In Brazil, we have the LGPD to help with this data protection process. More generally, both ByteDance and other technology companies should be more transparent about their data collection and use practices. However, as this is a Chinese company that won a gladitatorial startup arena (as Kai-Fu Lee describes in his 2018 book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order), it is understandable that there is a difference culture in valuing privacy. In the west, we value our privacy and as users we believe we have a right to know how our data is collected and used. Companies must ensure that this information is easily accessible and understandable. However, perhaps this perspective is becoming more and more of a utopia, especially in China, where the benefit of the community is more valued at the expense of individual privacy.
In my opinion China is winning this race like Achilles beat the tortoise (the west), although many people blindly believe that the tortoise, with its advantage, would never be caught by the hero. While Achilles runs, the tortoise continues to discuss social issues and how he/she carries the world on his shoulders, for the time being, the concern of Westerners is about which sex he has (Tery Pratchett say so…).
In summary, TikTok and other social media platforms offer many opportunities and benefits to users, but they also pose significant risks to users’ privacy and security. It is important that users and regulatory authorities are aware of these risks and take steps to ensure these platforms are used safely and responsibly. And remember, as Stuart Russel points out, that much of the unprecedented political polarization we experience in the modern world is caused by social media and its Clickthrough algorithms, which put us in ideological, cultural, commercial, and other bubbles.
Oh and you want to know about those weather balloons and UFOs flying over the world in every corner this year? Simple… Data collection. Those who have data have power, as AIs are already out there and they are hungry for more data of all kinds, this modern commodity in these new times that started in 2023.
https://techpolicy.press/tiktok-bans-short-sighted-solutions-to-the-wrong-problem/
https://gizmodo.com/tiktok-ban-how-many-countries-bytedance-china-1850238654
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/tiktok-ban-us-biden-explained-rcna75313
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/18/tech/tiktok-ban-explainer/index.html
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tiktok-star-30-dies-suddenly-29495850
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