TikTok Ban: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

TikTok's Popularity and Potential Ban

• TikTok is a social media app with over a billion users worldwide and 170 million monthly active users in the US, with a third of US adults and a majority of those under 30 using it (53s).
• Despite its popularity, TikTok may be on the brink of being banned in the US due to concerns over national security risks, with lawmakers giving its Chinese parent company an ultimatum to sell the app or face a ban by January 19th (1m17s).
• The concerns over national security risks are centered around the potential for the Chinese government to access users' private data through the app (1m34s).
• In response to the proposed ban, many young TikTok users have taken to making phone calls to members of Congress to express their opposition, with some even offering to share their personal information with China in a show of defiance (2m17s).
• TikTok is not only a popular platform for entertainment but also a significant driver of business, with over 7 million small businesses using it, and nearly 40% of adults under 30 saying they regularly get their news from the app (3m2s).
• Some lawmakers have described TikTok as a "grave national security threat" and "Chinese malware," but the story is more nuanced than it seems, and the concerns may be more complex than initially thought (3m19s).

TikTok's Origins and Growth

• TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that first made a similar app for the Chinese market called Douyin (4m3s).
• TikTok was launched as the international version of the Chinese app Douyin in 2016, and later merged with Musical.ly in 2018 to create the app known today (4m12s).
• The COVID-19 pandemic provided a perfect scenario for TikTok's growth, as people were stuck at home with limited entertainment options, leading to a surge in its popularity (4m22s).

Past Attempts to Ban TikTok

• Lawmakers raised concerns about TikTok being Chinese-owned, and in 2020, Trump signed an executive order to ban the app unless it was purchased by a US company, such as Microsoft (4m56s).
• The ban was later blocked by a court, which found that Trump had overstepped his authority, and TikTok has since attempted to distance itself from China (5m8s).

TikTok's Efforts to Distance Itself from China

• As part of this effort, TikTok launched "Project Texas," which aimed to store US users' data on US servers maintained by a third-party company, although the effectiveness of this measure has been questioned (5m16s).
• TikTok has also launched a PR campaign to promote its American credentials, featuring users such as "Patriotic Kenny," a veteran who raised over $110,000 in donations after posting a video on the app (5m40s).

Renewed Concerns and the Current Ban Threat

• Despite these efforts, concerns about China's influence over TikTok continue to grow, leading to a law being passed earlier this year demanding that the app be sold or banned from US app stores (6m37s).

TikTok's Data Collection and Algorithm

• The government's main concerns about TikTok are the data it collects from users and its power to push content to them, with the app's algorithm tracking user behavior to provide personalized content (6m52s).
• The algorithm has been praised for its ability to quickly figure out what users like and provide them with more of the same content, although some users have expressed concerns about its perceptive abilities (7m5s).
• Some users have even credited the algorithm with helping them discover their own identities, such as realizing they are bisexual, although this has also raised concerns about the app's influence on users' lives (7m27s).
• The algorithm used by TikTok is incredibly powerful, as it constantly gathers new data from user interactions, including device information, location, IP address, search history, and content viewing habits, allowing it to train itself on user preferences quickly due to the short length of videos (8m21s).
• In addition to interaction data, TikTok also collects personal information such as age range, gender, and interests, and in the US, its own privacy policy allows it to collect biometric information, including face and voice prints from posted content (8m47s).

Concerns about Data Collection and Potential Misuse

• Critics of TikTok paint an alarming picture of the potential consequences of collecting such vast amounts of personal data, likening it to China distributing 100 million sensors around the US that automatically collect information from Americans' phones (9m0s).
• The concern is that this data could be used by the Chinese government to identify intelligence opportunities, such as uncovering vulnerabilities or pressure points of potential spy recruits or blackmail targets (9m46s).

Past Privacy Violations and China's Influence

• A huge component of blackmail requires shame, but TikTok users often share personal and potentially sensitive information without shame, such as in a challenge where users name their biggest traumas while dumping candy into a bowl (10m11s).
• ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, has been guilty of alarming privacy violations in the past, including a case where a reporter investigating the company was herself investigated, and a team of employees launched a surveillance project to monitor her IP address and personal TikTok account (10m38s).
• ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, has restructured its team in charge of internal audits and removed access to US data, but critics argue that this doesn't matter due to the company's vulnerability to the Chinese government's whims (11m45s).
• The Chinese government has shown a clear willingness to go after American data, with officials blaming Chinese hackers for breaches of the Office of Personnel Management, Anthem Health, and Equifax, among others (11m56s).
• Chinese law states that if the Chinese government asks a company to cooperate, it has no choice but to comply, with no appeal or option to go to court (12m16s).
• This means that even if ByteDance is innocent today, it could be pressured into doing something bad tomorrow if the Chinese government demands it (12m22s).

Lack of Public Evidence of Spying

• Major decisions affecting millions of people could hinge on the mood of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which is seen as unpredictable and emotionally volatile (12m38s).
• Despite these concerns, there is currently no public evidence that the Chinese government has spied on people through TikTok (12m57s).
• TikTok collects a lot of data on its users, but this is not unique to the platform, as many other apps, including those from Meta and Google, collect similar data (13m4s).
• A study by the Washington Post found that TikTok does not appear to collect any more data than a typical mainstream social network (13m17s).

Allegations of Censorship and Propaganda

• TikTok has been accused of pushing propaganda or burying content that makes China look bad, but the company insists that its moderation practices are now more transparent (15m1s).
• Researchers have raised concerns that TikTok may still be censoring certain topics, including political speech and content that is deemed sensitive by the Chinese government (15m7s).
• A study found that TikTok's moderators were instructed to ban content on highly controversial topics, including mentions of Tiananmen Square and Tibetan Independence (14m36s).
• TikTok has also been accused of censoring users who are deemed too ugly, poor, or disabled for the platform (14m53s).
• Researchers found that content related to China on TikTok was not relevant or pro-China, and materials sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party were underrepresented, although not unrepresented, compared to Instagram and YouTube (15m19s).
• TikTok claims the study is flawed, and the methodology used by the researchers, which involved searching specific words and relying on the algorithm, may not accurately represent how people search for information (15m50s).
• The proprietary nature of TikTok's algorithm and the opaque decisions it makes about content make it difficult to determine the platform's true intentions (16m35s).
• China, like many countries, including the US, has covert influence operations on various platforms, but there is no direct evidence that China has used TikTok for propaganda purposes in the US (16m47s).

US Government Motives and Potential Xenophobia

• The US government's approach to TikTok may be motivated by concerns about national security, but it also raises questions about potential ulterior motives, including xenophobia (17m29s).
• During an interrogation, Senator Tom Cotton questioned TikTok CEO about his nationality, citizenship, and potential ties to the Chinese Communist Party, with some questions appearing to be driven by xenophobic undertones (17m39s).
• The CEO, who is a citizen of Singapore, denied any affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party and clarified his nationality and citizenship status (17m50s).
• The exchange highlights the complexities and potential biases involved in discussions about TikTok and its relationship with China (18m52s).

US Tech Companies and Market Share

• The panic surrounding TikTok may stem from an ugly place, and there are also concerns about US tech companies losing market share to the platform (19m4s).
• Meta and YouTube have their own versions of TikTok, called Reels and YouTube Shorts, and Meta has been caught spreading negative stories about TikTok (19m18s).
• Mark Zuckerberg personally lobbied Trump in 2019 about the risks posed by Chinese internet companies, including TikTok, and argued that this threat should be a bigger concern than regulating Facebook (19m46s).
• Some argue that banning TikTok might be the only thing that helps Meta, as many TikTok creators prefer the platform over its US competitors (20m12s).
• A TikTok creator stated that 100% of their customer base came from the platform, and that customers are more likely to engage with their content on TikTok than on Facebook or Instagram (20m21s).
• The creator also mentioned that Facebook is "archaic" and "dead," and that Instagram's prime was over seven years ago (20m42s).

Classified Evidence and Legal Challenges

• The government's argument for banning TikTok includes classified evidence that is not publicly available, with lawmakers stating that there is concrete evidence of nefarious activity, but it is classified (21m35s).
• TikTok is suing the government over the impending ban, and the government has redacted significant portions of the evidence it claims to have, with some parts of its affidavits being completely blacked out (22m16s).
• Even ByteDance and TikTok do not know what is behind the redacted evidence, as the government is not revealing it to them either (22m29s).

Hypocrisy and Lack of Trust

• The concept of showing evidence is a fundamental tenet of American justice, but the US government's claim that banning TikTok is necessary to protect Americans' privacy is questionable, especially when other companies like Instagram and Uber also collect user data (22m37s).
• The US government's decision to ban TikTok is seen as hypocritical, as American companies are also guilty of collecting and abusing user data, and the government has turned a blind eye to these practices (23m46s).
• The TikTok ban is a complex issue, with many unknowns, and it is difficult to navigate due to the lack of trust in both the US government and multinational tech companies (23m37s).

The Future of the Ban and Trump's Reversal

• The ban may end up in the Supreme Court, which could lead to an extension of the January 19th deadline, and potentially even into the next presidency (23m57s).
• Former President Donald Trump, who initially tried to ban TikTok, has now changed his stance and is advocating for its preservation, releasing a video encouraging people to vote for him to save the app (24m5s).

Expert Opinions and the Need for Data Protection

• Experts are divided on the issue, with national security types advocating for a ban and tech policy experts concerned about the free speech implications (25m0s).
• Many experts agree that the risks to Americans' data online do not end with China or TikTok, and that there are millions of apps collecting and abusing user data (25m27s).
• The US is the only country in the G20 without a comprehensive privacy law protecting consumer data, and there is a need for better protections (25m49s).
• An effort to pass the American Privacy Rights Act earlier this year, which contained robust data protections, was made, but the US still lags behind the rest of the world in terms of data protection (26m2s).
• The need for a baseline level of protection for data is emphasized, and a previous attempt at establishing this protection is mentioned, although it was stripped of crucial parts and lost support over time (26m15s).
• The TikTok ban may not be necessary, but it is also insufficient for better protecting Americans and their data (26m33s).
• To truly protect Americans and their data, actual guard rails that apply to all companies, not just one, need to be put in place (26m55s).
• Banning one company, such as TikTok, is not enough to achieve this level of protection, and a more comprehensive approach is required (26m52s).