On Banning TikTok
For the past month or so, much noise has been made about TikTok — a video-sharing platform that spawns viral hits, meme dances and long discussions about its connections to China’s ruling party. At this point, TikTok has consistently been blamed for harvesting user data and funneling it into the wrong hands. The current debate is around banning TikTok, and even that is focused not on the ethics of banning an app but rather the scope of the ban and ways to enforce it.
On the one hand, US citizens know better than anyone how easy it is to trade away privacy and rights in the name of fighting the enemy. Any adult citizen nowadays has felt the effects of the Patriot Act one way or another. What was supposed to be simple anti-terrorism legislation has opened the door for mass surveillance on private citizens. On the other hand, a wildly popular app leaking data to an oppressive regime is certainly not something that can be ignored. TikTok can’t be reformed under its current ownership and simply leaving it be will just make the situation worse.
This leaves no choice but to act as every day TikTok is left unchecked, its predatory practices affect millions of Americans. The optimal outcome in this situation would be to have the app removed with precise legislation that does not, in any way, affect other apps and services. We already have an example of a poor approach to this in the form of the EARN IT Act — supposedly aimed at protecting children but more focused on attacking encryption and the independence of social platforms — and when the TikTok ban does come, it has to be the exact opposite of it.
Something as simple as deleting TikTok from Play Store and App Store is likely to be the end for the app. Apple and Google have a chokehold on the market, recently highlighted by Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, so deplatforming TikTok will push it out of the spotlight and cost it a huge chunk of its userbase. Some users could still rely on APK downloads to get the app but most will just move on to a different platform.
As the situation is still developing, other options are coming to light. TikTok is reportedly pondering the idea of leaving China and moving operations to the USA, which would solve the “helping the enemy” narrative and likely calm the state efforts to ban it. However, unless the app changes not just its ownership but its architecture, the data harvesting problem will not be solved. Importing the predatory methods to our land isn’t a way to save users’ privacy, it’s just domesticating the beast. And we all know what happens when the US government spies on its citizens.
Ultimately, the ban on TikTok, instead of a quick relocation, can help accomplish three important feats. First, it gives a clear sign that data harvesting isn’t going to be tolerated, if only from foreign companies. Second, it highlights just how powerful Google and Apple are in the app monopoly. Third, it marks one of the rare times where a corporation betraying its customers gets its comeuppance instead of a slap on the hand or a government bailout. It could be a turning point for the way we treat private data and digital security. Or, at the very least, it could just help us get rid of prying eyes in our devices.
