“TikTok had made a commitment to storing US data on servers outside of China. Backdoors were still a major concern for congressmen and security personnel in the US, which is one of the reasons why two years ago it was decided at all to ban with Huawei-made goods by the US Federal Trade Commission.”
Image: More than 30 states are banning the TikTok app.
TikTok is a corporate and geopolitical megatrend. President Joe Biden signed a measure that phases out the immensely popular app over nine months, unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, divests it to an American company.
What Are the Bans All About?
Those restrictions aim to prevent state government agencies, contractors and employees from using TikTok on government-issued devices. And remember, there are no restrictions on personal devices. This means that while neither state workers nor contractors can fire up the application on their government-issued devices for work purposes, they are still permitted to use the software (paid or unpaid) on personal smartphones or tablets.
TIkTok describes the legislation as ‘political theatre’ and it’s certainly correct: politics is always theatre, but attacking China is one of the biggest hit shows. There is not one other thing that can unite the main parties of America. But in the weeks and months leading up to passage of its bill, the hubris of its leadership demonstrates that it is either out of touch with America or Americans.
U.S. politicians challenge business less than their foreign counterparts, and many resisted news of a forced sale of TikTok over fears for corruption, business and investor confidence, and free speech. The general view is that regulation needs to meet the lofty public-interests standard.
TikTok Company ByteDance Overview
Image: ByteDance Company headquarters
ByteDance TikTok is an international technology company with headquarters in Beijing, China. It was founded by Zhang Yiming in 2012 and has gained recognition for its innovative use of artificial intelligence. The most famous of its products is TikTok, an app that lets users create and share short films. It’s a global hit thanks to the sophisticated algorithms based on artificial intelligence that ensure people get tailored content they like to see–what better way could there be?
Besides TikTok, ByteDance also has Douyin, which runs military as the Chinese version of the app. But apart from that, ByteDance’s business is getting involved in enterprise software and educational technology, among other things shear and Once again, combining rapid growth with technical innovation has made ByteDance a major player in the digital sector. Nevertheless, it comes under public scrutiny for security and privacy issues connected with data.
Why the concern?
Data privacy was the top public-interest issue until a month ago. Questions like who gets to see user data and if it might be misused apply to all big social media networks. Congress has undertaken multiple hearings on the matter over the past decade, typically targeting Meta and Google. Many US politicians believe the Chinese government may be compelled to give up its American users’ data, amplifying these fears. Under 2017 and 2021 rules, all Chinese organizations must help the government with intelligence gathering and counterespionage if requested.
Still, US officials inspecting the company’s technology seemed like a solution. Considering data privacy is an industry worry, they might have capitalized by investing in data protection and supporting independent platform research. It might have met US politicians halfway and addressed the matter proactively, honestly, and collaboratively. The US IT sector may have benefited from them.
What does this mean for civilians?
These state-level prohibitions won’t prevent you, the citizen, from using them on your personal devices. That said, this news is part of an overall trend in the direction of tougher laws for global digital corporations. As governments and businesses learn more about the potential implications of machine-generated content, this may lead to further measures and restrictions in the future.
Instead, they did what you are supposed to do — hired pricey lobbyists and even activated its young customers in America so they could phone their lawmakers in Congress, an egg-laying error. Pop-up ads urged users to ‘Let Lawmakers know what they means to you and convince them to vote NO.’ Some congressional offices received more than 1,000 calls per day.
Considering Uber’s success in getting people moving to campaigns against laws it didn’t like, this might have seemed a clever tactic. TikTok didn’t appreciate one crucial difference: Uber is American. TikTok was wracked by this ailment, and worsened it by interfering in US politics — creating a second large threat to the public.
In the past decade, average Americans and policymakers have expressed concerns over social media’s outsized ability to shape users’ ideas, behaviors and voting choices, as well as how unfriendly foreign actors might use mainstream platforms. This danger is real, and it poses a threat to American democracy. We know Russia and others try to interfere in American and European elections.
Impact on Government Operations
The prohibitions mandate changes in state agencies’ technologies policy. Workers will need to follow new guidelines, and might have to use separate applications for work-related conversations and tasks. While these changes are designed to enhance security, TikTok could lead to momentary interruptions or a learning curve as users become accustomed to new systems.
In this case, TikTok user mobilization acted as an early alarm for elected political staff. For the many who heeded that call, there was no clear reason why they were opposed. A foreign-owned company brazenly illustrated how easy it was to manipulate people for its own profit, showing that it knew how much political power it could wield. The US abruptly and rightly turned its attention from Russian voter manipulation to Chinese.
The geopolitical context may have shielded TikTok by not shielding it: Laws calling for sales when public interest is deemed threatened do exist. We do not know what might have been. Clearly, the company’s aggressive plan did not go as intended. The assault on American democracy propelled the legislation through Congress.
The Evolution of Data Privacy Laws in the U.S.
Over time, the United States has enacted various data privacy laws in response to increasing concerns and issues related to personal data collection, use, and protection. In the US, laws governing data privacy were at times inconsistent and fragmented between them, by state or industry. Although there were some meaningful enhancements to the security of personal health information after Congress enacted the landmark Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996, few all-encompassing data privacy laws had emerged.
The emergence of stronger digital technologies and online services in the early 2000s led to calls for tighter privacy protections. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was passed in 2018 — a landmark measure that gave their citizens greater control over how their personal data was used, and raised the bar for Data Privacy legislation. The CCPA established rights to access, erase and opt out of the sale of personal data, and served as a model for state laws of that kind.
Just because we’re in a new century doesn’t mean past will stay past — if rules around data privacy change, they need to do so soon too. National data privacy law: There’s been considerable talk of whether a national data privacy law could pass, creating a uniform standard across the country. Potential future directions include better transparency regarding how to make data, stronger safeguards on sensitive data themselves, and responding to questions about artificial intelligence and what new issues arise from that in terms of protecting data. However, with the rapid pace of technological change and shifts in how data is used and practiced, legislative frameworks will need to keep up to ensure our personal data was protected.
In Video: User Reaction For the TikTok Ban(source: Inside Edition)
The Future of Social Media Regulation
As social media grows ever more entrenched in our lives, we may eventually have rules and laws that are much tighter on things like user safety, data privacy and content moderation. Content moderation by platforms is likely to become much more transparent, as are methods of monitoring and holding things accountable. That could help hold platforms responsible for their moderation policies and be used to alleviate fears about dangerous content and disinformation.
Data privacy will be another big issue, with new laws likely to place tighter restrictions on how social media companies collect, use and share user data. “In order to uphold user privacy within and between countries, anticipate continued changes in law around cross border data sharing restrictions; ever more permission based regulation of the types of information that organizations can store; and improved user rights to control what happens with their own data.”
There will be greater safeguards against the potential harms of AI to users — especially, children and members of other vulnerable groups who could face risks from harassment. New rules could call for even more thorough safety efforts on platforms — such as improved reporting systems and tools to spot and stop abuse. There may also be increasing collaboration between social media companies and law enforcement to address online threats while balancing protections of privacy.
The company’s future in the U.S. is now unclear. The corporation must purge itself of its existing consultants and lobbyists, and reimagine its strategy from the ground up. They should have directly addressed Americans’ legitimate concerns about data privacy and the integrity of democratic processes. Instead, their neglect and inaction have made a dangerous situation worse. This latest spate of misfortunes should serve as a warning for other foreign companies.
“It underscores the need to understand and address the specific challenges in this category that have been raised by American people and government organizations.” To restore public confidence and show it is truly dedicated to protecting user data and supporting democratic norms, TikTok must take definitive steps moving forward. In so doing, it would broaden its foothold in the American market and establish a playbook for how foreign companies should navigate regulatory minefields.”