Get it all – why TikTok is accused of lying about users’ personal data

Documents from in-house meetings reveal that Chinese usage is less rigorous than it claims to be with the personal data of its Western users.

The TikTok application has been in turmoil since the discovery of 80 audio recordings captured during internal transactions. American site Buzzfeed.

These documents revealed that the engineers of the China-based application had access to the personal data of US users. The specified hearing runs from September 2021 to January 2022. In its official text, however, the application states that this is not the case.

What is TikTok?

TikTok is a social networking site owned by the Chinese company Bytedance. Launched in 2016, it took the form of an app dedicated to music and dance. Now, TikTok is basically a video app ranging from a few seconds to ten minutes.

The specialty of social networking is to link videos with infinite, efficient and powerful algorithm. By the summer of 2021, TikTok will have crossed the milestone of one billion active monthly users. Thanks to its particularly addictive functionality, TikTok is the social network where users spend the most time.

தனிப்பட்ட What personal data does TikTok collect?

Like most social networks, TikTok collects data from its users. This information is to feed the sponsored content, based on the economic model of the application. This data contains basic information such as valuable identifier, email address or age of the user to spread the targeted ad.

Like Facebook or Google, Dictoc has a tool for millions of websites Find all sites visited By its users, for example, to better understand their tastes and habits. This data is again required to provide tailor ads.

According to internal documents cited by Buzzfeed, TikTok’s Chinese engineers were able to access other elements such as comments written under the videos, “favorite” videos or accounts that each user follows.

Where does TikTok claim ownership of this data?

As it has become internationally popular, TikTok has always shown its credentials to the Personal Data Police, claiming that its users’ data is not transferred to China in any way and that it is stored in the US and Singapore.

The processor still faced blocking threats from former US President Donald Trump, but it did not work. The danger posed by current President Joe Biden has finally been buried.

For European users, TikTok has promised to build a dedicated server in Ireland by 2020. If this promise did not materialize, the application recently reaffirmed its willingness to set up these servers. Meanwhile, European user data is stored in the US and Singapore.

BFMTV asked TikTok to find a list of places where French user data is stored and to ensure that any data related to French users is not accessible from China. The company has not yet responded.

What do TikTok’s internal tapes reveal?

According to Buzzfeed, the audio documents contain 14 claims made by nine different TikTok employees, indicating that engineers in China had “minimal” access to personal data of US users between September 2021 and January 2022.

We are particularly aware that certain information is not stored on Oracle’s US servers (DickTok’s storage partner) on other Dictok-owned servers in the state of Virginia. If this data were geographically hosted in the United States, the fact that those servers were owned by Dictoc would put the company under its control.

“Physical location is not a bar if data can still be viewed in China,” Adam Sekel, director of the U.S. Foreign Council’s Digital and Cyberspace, told Buzzfeed.

Moreover, the evidence revealed by the internal documents is very transparent. During the September 2021 meeting, a member of Dictok’s Trust and Security Committee said, “Everything is found in China.”

“Despite the testimony of a corporate executive issued in October 2021, nine claims from eight employees who will determine whose data the ‘world-renowned US Security Council’ will have access to describe the circumstances under which US employees should view their colleagues in China to understand how US data was handled.” Buzzfeed said.

What is the risk to users?

The main criticism of this application is its closeness to the Communist Party of China – which has always been denied. The transfer of personal data of Western users to Chinese authorities naturally suggests the possibility of spying.

As a reminder, there are a group of major Chinese companies related to new technologies In a federation Indicates full support for power.