Privacy Post: April 26th

Good morning 👋

This is issue #2 of Privacy Post - the not-so-private privacy newsletter, where I share privacy news, knowledge, and technology happenings to keep you, professionals, amateurs, enthusiasts, and anyone looking to learn more, informed on the ever-changing privacy landscape.

🔥 Today’s post includes:

• Knowledge topic 🧠 - TikTok’s “privacy” scrutiny

• In the news 🗞 - OpenAI & state privacy bills

• Meme post 🤣

Is TikTok in trouble?

TikTok is THE social media platform harboring hilarious and entertaining short-form videos with 100 million U.S. users - roughly 1/3 of Americans.

Even with increasing popularity, the word on Capitol Hill is they want to ban TikTok for all U.S. users. In 2020, India banned TikTok and right now Canada is looking to do the same. It’s banned on all federal government-issued devices and some state-issued devices in the U.S.. The app is also on its way to a ban on personal devices in Montana if the governor signs the bill.

But, what’s the problem?

It all comes down to one country. China.

TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, operates in Beijing, which has raised distress among U.S. government officials. Why? Because of the rocky relationship between the U.S. and China and the potential threat to national security if the Chinese government overreaches involving themselves with U.S. user data.

Here are the two main concerns:

1. TikTok is/could be handing over millions of sensitive U.S. user data to the Chinese government (e.g., location data, email, personal preferences)

2. The ability of the Chinese government to interfere with TikTok’s algorithm and show misinformation or manipulative information to users regarding certain issues in favor of China (e.g., politics, foreign affairs, current events). Think Cambridge Analytica all over again.

There is no evidence to suggest either of these is true, but are both of these scenarios possible? Short answer, you betcha.

Historically, China has been known to go after and collect American data. In 2017, the Chinese military conspired to hack Equifax and made off with the sensitive personal information of roughly 150 million Americans.

TikTok is facing complete extinction in the U.S. unless they address the national security concerns. However, TikTok isn’t going without a fight, or shall I say a plan. That plan is Project Texas.

Project Texas wants to move all U.S. data to be stored in Oracle servers based in America, cutting off China’s potential grip on the data. Additionally, Project Texas wants to incorporate independent reviews, monitoring, and periodical third-party audits to ensure compliance.

Whether this will be enough to cool concerns, we’ll have to wait to find out. Although, it’s not looking like it as the Biden administration seems to be going another route.

Besides a complete ban or fulfilling Project Texas, there is another proposed option to address Tiktok’s national security concerns. One which the U.S. government is pushing TikTok to sell to an American company.

While this was attempted during the Trump administration, it was blocked by several federal courts. However, the Biden administration is keeping it on the table as a viable option.

Now, what are the naysayers of the TikTok ban saying?

Critics of the ban have another idea. U.S.-based digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future is calling for greater privacy laws for all of big tech.

All big tech companies do exactly what TikTok does, collect copious amounts of U.S. user data and use it to their own advantage - sharing, selling, processing. The only difference between TikTok and other big tech companies, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is that TikTok is a Chinese-owned company.

In my opinion, the controversies of TikTok and the troubles of big tech are separate issues. I’d even say the TikTok/China debacle isn’t even about data privacy. It’s about espionage and national security. Privacy laws are not a counter-espionage tool. They address a different kind of risk. No privacy law will stop spy balloons from floating over the U.S. or prevent government conflict/cyber warfare.

Even if the TikTok issue isn’t about data privacy at heart, I am not against the added publicity and conversations regarding protecting user data and individual rights.

Three things are certain if TikTok is banned: we can expect a tsunami of litigation, an angered China, and a distressed Gen Z (60% of TikTok users are Gen Zers).

There has never been such a popular social media company based anywhere but in the US. I’m excited to see how this plays out. I will be posting more Tiktok news as it rolls in! We are going off-script for this one, folks.

In the news…

• OpenAI announced yesterday they are immediately rolling out the ability for ChatGPT users to turn off chat history, preventing conversations from being used as training data. A small win for user privacy 🥳

• Tennessee & Montana comprehensive privacy bills pass legislation. Now we’ll wait to see when they officially get signed into law

Meme Post

Accurate.

That’s a wrap for today! See you next week. If you want more, be sure to follow me on LinkedIn (@annapeterson).

😄 This newsletter is a place for all to learn about data privacy, question the technology we use, and understand how it fits into the world we live in.

Disclaimer: The thoughts and ideas of Privacy Post are my own and not of my employer.