Rumors and reports are everywhereabout TikTokthese days. You’ve probably heard discussions about if the video app is dangerous, if it spreads misinformation, if kids are addicted to it, if it’s a tool of the Chinese government, and on and on. But what are the facts? Who is actually banning TikTok, and why are they doing it? And should you use TikTok or let your family use it?
Those questions deserve some good answers. On the surface, the TikTok app seems fairly innocent. Give it a phone number and a few other bits of information for a private account, agree to TikTok’s privacy policy, and you’re off to easy video-sharing. But the details harbor deep-rooted problems. So let’s tackle the current state of TikTok, its bans, and if it’s safe for you to use.
Some basics about TikTok
TikTok is a social media app focused on short videos up to 10 minutes long, which can be easily modified and rapidly shared with friends and followers. The app is designed to be especially friendly for smartphones,both Android and Apple iOS-based. It began life as Musical.ly with a focus on amateur music productions (and to this day, music is a frequent part of TikTok’s short-form videos), with a cap of 15 seconds that’s been extended several times since then. A company called ByteDance purchased the app in 2018 and rebranded it as TikTok, after which it exploded in popularity, especially among younger users. It’s now one of the world’s most popular social media apps, with more than 1 billion users.
Today, TikTok allows users to capture and run it through all kinds of filters, soundtracks, stickers, and emotes to make a unique creation. It’s not just funny dances, although there are many of those. People use TikTok to create videos about science, nature, history, politics, and porn, among other subjects.
So where does China fit into all of this? TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, is a Chinese company. In China, larger companies like ByteDance are intertwined with the government in complex, unique, and ever-shifting ways. The Chinese government generally has the power to request any sort of data from companies like ByteDance. It may work more closely with specific companies to harvest certain kinds of data. Governments around the world have become increasingly convinced that this is happening, which is why there’s so much controversy over TikTok right now. Well, it’s one of the reasons. Let’s look at them all.
The trouble with TikTok: Top risks
Governments aside – and we’ll discuss that more below – how is the TikToksocial appdirectly dangerous for its potential users? It comes down to several risks, some of which are shared with many types of social media and others that are more of a TikTok-only problem.
Investigations into TikTok by bodies like the EU have found the app collects a ton of information about users regardless of privacy settings, even compared to other social sites. That includes info on phone hardware, OS, apps installed on the phone, locations of users, user keystrokes made while the app is open, and facial recognition data. Yikes! It’s no surprise the EU hasalready banned its staff from using TikTok, but individuals face the same risks regardless of whether they are part of a government body.
Direct spying on individuals
A Forbes reportuncovered that ByteDance had been using TikTok to spy on its journalists, including tracking their physical locations with IP addresses, reportedly as a way to track information leaks. ByteDance claimed that it was employees acting without authorization and that those employees had been fired. Regardless if that’s true or not, the fact that TikTok has that accessibility ability is unnerving.
Digital health
Parents frequently voice fears that TikTok enables endless hopping from video short to short, all dazzle and no substances. They worry that these habits teach their kids to have short attention spans and worsen learning difficulties and other problems. We don’t have a lot of long-term studies on a topic like this, but it’s no surprise that parents are concerned TikTok habits may carry consequences.
Misinformation
So far, there’s not much sign that the Chinese government is currently using TikTok to control the spread of information (it created bans in the past on certain topics but repealed them later). However, there’s a similar insidious problem with TikTok: misinformation. TikTok’s super-short videos and flashy graphics make it easy for creators to make broad, convincing-sounding claims without providing any evidence. The TikTok algorithm only cares about keeping users watching, so it happily recommends similar content and claims without fact-checking or analysis available. That makes TikTok a great place to pick up all kinds of misinformation and toxic ideas – from conspiracy theories and political propaganda to misogyny in the vein of Andrew Tate.
Current TikTok bans
In 2022, various bodies began creating TikTok bans to protect sensitive data and user privacy.There are a lot of bans, with more coming all the time, but we’ll summarize their current progress.
National bans
A few countries have enacted wide bans on TikTok in the name of national security. We mentioned how the EU stopped staff from using the app for cybersecurity reasons. Nations like India have banned TikTok entirely, claiming it’s being used as a weapon by China. Britain, Canada, France, and other countries have banned the app from government-owned devices. Other nations are considering full and partial bans, including the United States, which has been running investigations on TikTok for years.
State government bans
Over half of the U.S. states have enacted their own bans on TikTok. These bans affect devices owned by the government and used for public work or devices owned by Americans who are government employees.
Full state bans
Montana has become the first state to enact a full, state-wide ban on TikTok for all its citizens. It’s hard to say if other states will follow suit. Bans like these are difficult to enforce and may carry unintended ramifications, but they can work with careful geofencing requirements.
College bans
Dozens of collegesaround the United States have created policies banning TikTok use or blocked the video app from campus Wi-Fi. In many cases, these public universities were following the requests of their state governments. Otherwise, some colleges are making TikTok rules to protect their students and sensitive research happening at the school.
Should you allow TikTok on your device or in your family?
Most TikTok bans are in response to organizational threats, especially from potential actions by the Chinese government. But as an individual TikTok user, should you personally be worried about the app? Does TikTok pose a danger to your digital well-being?
Here’s the challenge: User issues with TikTok represent a severe cluster of problems that other social apps exhibit in their own ways. Companies like Facebook are notorious for harvesting user data for their own purposes. Instagram and Snapchat may be unhealthy in similar attention-ruining ways. Misinformation plagues all kinds of social media platforms, and kids can find inappropriate content anywhere. While TikTok may be particularly bad right now, it’s not alone, and it’s not even the worst social network for problems like phishing scams.
In other words, if you’re thinkingabout deleting TikTokor controlling how it’s used in your family, start thinking about how you use other social media. It may be time to limit use overall rather than focusing on one video app, especially if you’re worried about privacy concerns.
What about using TikTok professionally?
TikTok’s reach can’t be denied. If you need to tap into its audience for professional work, consider using a dedicated work device and unique work account to protect your privacy. If your work involves sensitive data or research, it probably needs to stay off social media altogether. However, for social campaigns and influencers, TikTok remains a valuable tool.
Now you know what’s going on with TikTok
There are certainly problems with TikTok, especially when it comes to data collection and loss of privacy. And yes, government bodies are banning TikTok on their devices to prevent potential access from hostile foreign governments, notably China, which appears to be in control of TikTok.
However, simply viewing TikTok videos probably isn’t dangerous. Even creating a TikTok account may not expose you to much risk if you don’t mind others knowing what you do there. Still, TikTok’s algorithms can quickly plunge viewers down dangerous or misinformed rabbit holes. And if you have kids, you may not want them spending too much time cycling through endless short-form videos.
If you like the idea of TikTok with the baggage, there are other contenders on the rise. We recommend trying out apps like music-focusedTriller,Funimate,Clash(currently in beta, previously known as Byte), or the reliable Instagram.
