What is Going on With TikTok?

#NEWSLETTER | With 170m users in the US & House bipartisan support for taking a hardline against ByteDance, the facts need to be laid out more clearly, so a special edition today with more thoughts

The sheer reach and influence of TikTok may explain our government’s waffling and a lack of detail on the specific risks posed by the platform. It appeared *clear* in this 2019 letter from Senators Chuck Schumer and Tom Cotton. But in the intervening years we’ve seen declarations of TikTok’s grave risk contradicted by politicians making hearty use of the service (most notably the Biden campaign). But, even then, allegations of TikTok’s close ties to the Chinese Communist Party is about the extent of media coverage explaining the House vote.

But the detailed facts are sobering — and worth discussing. The security risks TikTok poses are not a secret, but you need to be reading, say, global research papers, and the NATO quarterly magazine 🙋🏼‍♀️ to get into the weeds of it all.

So hopefully the below will explain the strong bipartisan support seen this week on taking a hardline with ByteDance. And while there is a lot of “but free speech” chatter from those loyal to the service, remember that the US does ban goods and services it deems a threat... for instance we can’t buy Kinder Eggs, import French cheese, buy fur in California, and so on. We sanction, ban, etc. when our security is at risk. It’s not new.

So here are a few more details that I hope will help:

China is the “World’s Biggest Facial Recognition Dealer”

Facial recognition technology is created using large amounts of image and video data processed via sophisticated computer vision technology. China leads in this space thanks to the lack of privacy afforded to its citizens and, as such, widespread mass surveillance.

And with TikTok’s nearly two billion users in tow, China is able to refine technology that recognizes and targets any demographic in the world — including emotional or “sentiment” visual analysis. From a Guardian article on the subject:

“Emotion-recognition technologies – in which facial expressions of anger, sadness, happiness and boredom, as well as other biometric data are tracked – are supposedly able to infer a person’s feelings based on traits such as facial muscle movements, vocal tone, body movements and other biometric signals. It goes beyond facial-recognition technologies, which simply compare faces to determine a match…The industry is booming in China…”

Tik Tok Collects “Faceprints and Voiceprints”

Stated clearly in its privacy policy, TikTok notes that it captures “biometric” markers. These are unique and personal digital replicas of appearance, behavior and expression — just like a fingerprint. Users also consent to their info to be shared with third parties.

There is no way of knowing which “third parties” get access to this data and there is also language in the privacy policy about sharing it across business units within ByteDance (and despite a separate policy document called “Project Texas” promising “compliance” and the “safeguarding US user data”).

As researchers from the University of Melbourne point out: it’s more than likely that the data of 1.9 billion users worldwide is being used to enhance ByteDance’s AILab and Byte Plus businesses. And clearly our government has used this fact as part of its deliberations on how to address the service.

Regarding the biometric markers University of Melbourne researchers note:

Access control and security are significant concerns. While some may consent to give TikTok first-party access to their biometrics, users also grant TikTok the right to share data with third-party service providers and business partners.

What if data security is breached? Suddenly your identity and biometrics may be harnessed by criminals that create deep fake videos that could be used to blackmail, extort and cyberbully. 

The likelihood of a breach? High. TikTok has previously and is currently being sued for violations in several jurisdictions.

TikTok’s Data Collection is Not “Just Like Other US Social Media Companies”

It’s important to review all privacy policies. Surveillance is a threat across many platforms and this does not absolve US-based companies (in fact, hopefully it pushes us to explore the bigger picture more readily). But a review of TikTok’s policy should be alarming for its opaqueness in all the important places.

In particular, there is a vagueness about issues such short- and long-term data storage, transfer, third-party use (as noted above) and that data can be held onto in perpetuity. “Promises” coming from a company based in Beijing are not the same as those from companies that are US-owned. And particularly when the foreign entity is a mass-surveillance happy, communist-ruling entity.

Cognitive Warfare is a Hot Topic in the Defense Space and NATO’s Thinking is Chilling

China is a leader in “cognitive warfare”, thanks again to communism and mass surveillance. And they aren’t the only ones planning to exploit this weaponry of the psychological variety.

What is cognitive warfare? This overview from NATO is helpful and the definition quite simple:

“…the activities conducted in synchronization with other instruments of power, to affect attitudes and behaviors by influencing, protecting, and/or disrupting individual and group cognitions to gain an advantage.”

Put plainly, it is mass mind control via, amongst other things, social media. It’s shockingly logical when you start to consider how easily an adversary can target us without stepping foot on our shores.

In fact, are we not seeing it played out right now? A simple review of the outrage at this week’s House vote provides a glimpse. Even the ACLU has yelled “free speech” in its counterposition to a ban (which is frankly confounding considering TikTok’s confirmed censure of content inconvenient to the CCP). From Senate documents:

“TikTok reportedly censors materials deemed politically sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party, including content related to the recent Hong Kong protests, as well as references to Tiananmen Square, Tibetan and Taiwanese independence, and the treatment of Uighurs.”

Last Thoughts…

The more important takeaway for all of us here is to remain critical and suspicious of all new technology. Power, money and control of the future will mean we are all increasingly chess pieces in this game.

Let’s be honest: If you were a communist country that exploits its people, affords no privacy or individual rights, targets its enemies and is obsessed with “winning” the AI race, wouldn’t you delight in having the ACLU on your side? And in eliciting such a strong and large emotional response? Or even better, putting the US government in a sticky position? Would you act in good faith and with absolute truthfulness?

No, didn’t think so.