TikTok bans distract from wider privacy concerns, says digital rights advocate

Day 68:25TikTok bans distract from wider privacy concerns, says digital rights advocate

The U.S. government has introduced new legislation that would ban TikTok outright in the country.

The bill names TikTok, and its China-based parent company ByteDance, and would empower the Biden administration to impose a nationwide ban of the app under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). 

Fast-tracked by U.S. Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, the bill would erode the Berman amendment laws passed in the 1980s forbidding the government from restricting the movement of "information materials."

America has also moved to outlaw the social media app on federal government-issued devices, like Canada and the European Union.

WATCH | Breaking down TikTok security concerns

Breaking down TikTok security concerns

2 years ago

Duration 0:01

The concern of some cybersecurity experts — and what has fuelled the new legislation and banning of the app — is the amount of user data being gathered and stored by TikTok, and its level of transparency surrounding what's being logged. Some privacy advocates also believe that the Chinese government would have the ability to acquire that information.

U.S.-based digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future has launched an online campaign opposing the bill called #DontBanTikTok.

Group director Evan Greer says if China wanted to, it could buy the same data from TikTok user accounts and devices as it could via data brokers, who already have access to information harvested from third party apps.

"If it weren't so concerning, it would be kind of amusing that U.S. lawmakers are so intent on appearing tough on China by proposing a policy that sounds a lot like something that the Chinese government would do, by banning an app used by millions and millions of people," she said.

"It's basically saying the government can now tell you you're no longer allowed to express yourself on this app, even if you want to."

Greer spoke with Day 6 host Brent Bambury about her reaction to the U.S. House committee vote to advance the legislation this week. Here's part of that conversation.

What do you make of the national security argument that this data could be dangerous in the hands of the Chinese government, which could bully its way into accessing that data in ways that other governments wouldn't? 

TikTok engages in incredibly harmful and predatory business practices, including the mass harvesting of sensitive personal data. That is true. It is also true, unfortunately, that many other large tech companies, including U.S.-based ones like Meta's Instagram, engage in those exact same practices. 

Yes, we should absolutely be concerned about commercial data collection practices in the ways that authoritarian governments like the Chinese government could weaponize that commercial data collection in their own national interest. 

And that's why we should pass data privacy legislation to make it illegal for companies like TikTok to collect so much sensitive data on us in the first place.

The surveillance-driven business model that TikTok uses is commonplace across the tech industry. So this is a bigger problem than just TikTok. 

But as a technology, does TikTok stand apart? Is TikTok gathering more information than other social media apps? Information like precise location data or the ways that people actually use their phones? 

So unfortunately, many apps collect that type of incredibly sensitive data like your real-time location — where you're touching on your device — sometimes even the orientation of your device. 

TikTok is certainly one of the worst, and they do engage in surveillance practices that set them apart from some of their competitors. But it's more like different types of citrus than a completely different fruit. 

The reality is that these companies all engage in more or less the same practices of collecting our data, using that data to recommend content to us in ways that can be really manipulative and harmful. 

And that's why doing something would look a lot more like [developing] comprehensive privacy standards, breaking up big tech companies and ensuring competition rather than kind of banning one app with a fairly hefty aroma of xenophobia. 

How does banning TikTok amount to impeding free speech? 

There are very few countries in the world that engage in authoritarian practices like completely banning apps from the entire country. China is one of them. Turkey has done this. There are a small handful of other countries that do it. 

It's pretty astounding that countries like the U.S. and Canada and European countries that claim to be defenders of democracy and free expression — and a free and open society — want to add themselves to that short list of countries banning these apps entirely. 

The reality is TikTok is a platform that's wildly popular, especially with young people, with people of colour, with LGBTQ folks. We see a lot of young people using this platform to organize around issues that matter to them, like gun violence and climate change. 

WATCH | Cybersecurity head warns TikTok users to protect their data

Cybersecurity head warns TikTok users to protect their data

2 years ago

Duration 2:57

It's clear you don't believe that banning TikTok is the answer and that you think it's wrong. But what should individuals do now to advocate for their digital privacy rights instead? 

I think we're so often trained that this is all up to us and we're kind of on our own. And if you want to protect your privacy, it's about changing the settings on your phone or deleting an app that you maybe shouldn't be using. And certainly there are important steps that every individual can and should take to protect themselves. 

But the reality is this is a collective and society-wide problem, not an individualistic problem. And it's not a problem that we can solve just by toggling the settings on our phone or deleting an app. It's a problem that needs to be solved through policy. 

When people ask me what I can do to protect my privacy, I actually tell them to call your elected officials. Tell them you want policies in place so that your grandma or people who barely understand how this technology works are still protected because you shouldn't have to be a super hacker or a privacy genius to use your phone safely. 

But the only way that we get from here to there is if policymakers act, not individuals. 

Produced by Yamri Taddese. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.