And that includes removing it from your kids’ devices.
On Thursday, TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will be opening a lion’s mouth and placing his own head into it.
He’s giving testimony in the US Congress for the first time: a scary thing to do.
And at stake is the future of the phenomenally popular video-sharing app in the US.
[…] Mr Chew is likely to face a barrage of questions on TikTok’s relationship with China, what data it collects and what it does with it.
As well he should.
He’ll also be quizzed on why several journalists were spied on by ByteDance employees – something TikTok has already admitted.
Emphasis added.
[…] Mr Chew is going to need to give the performance of a lifetime. And already, close observers have seen a change of tactic from the Singaporean.
TikTok’s boss, who has had a range of senior positions in the world of finance, generally sports a suit jacket and tie.
But on Tuesday, he posted a TikTok with a very different look.
Instead of a suit, he was wearing a white T-shirt and hoodie – the uniform of the nonchalant tech founder.
The 40-year-old was suddenly speaking like a teenager too – talking of being “super excited”.
Bruh!
[…] However, that approach appears to have changed. TikTok is fighting for its life, and Mr Chew knows it.
The big problem TikTok has in the US and Europe is that it is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance.
And in China, there are specific laws that require companies to hand over information to the Chinese Communist Party if requested.
TikTok holds reams of data about its users, including location information and biometric data.
[…] It has spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying efforts and strategies to appease governments.
In other words spent big bucks bribing governments.
At the heart of its attempt to convince US lawmakers is “Project Texas”.
This is the company’s commitment to store US data in the US – on servers run by a US company – Oracle.
[…] Last year Mr Chew wrote to politicians saying he believed the project would “safeguard user data and US national security interests”.
But sadly for TikTok, Project Texas has been looked at sceptically by both Republicans and Democrats.
For many US politicians, for as long as TikTok has a Chinese owner, it will be considered suspicious.
Last month FBI director Christopher Wray didn’t mince his words about the platform.
“This is a tool that is ultimately within the control of the Chinese Government. And to me, it screams out with national security concerns,” he said.
TikTok isn’t about kids doing short dances and sharing them to their mates. In short it is a data collection app – data that the Chinese government can demand be handed over.
Even if you don’t care if some Chinese official knows your name and that you like watching others mime to Britney Spears, you should be concerned that it’s even collecting and storing that data.
TikTok says it collects text, images and video from your device’s clipboard if you copy and paste content to or from the app, or share it with a third-party platform.
And that’s just what TikTok is willing to admit to.