Chinese-run and influential social media app, TikTok sits at the center of a tech tussle. The popular app reels on the radar. Several state actors are pressing on to ban TikTok for reasons centered on national interests, and its connection with the Chinese leadership – an act that could roll on.
Tensions between China and the West are on the rise over trade and tech practices – and the TikTok controversy – is all part of that picture.
Chaotic 2023
In the US, TikTok has been banned from official devices and the Joe Biden-led US administration has issued an ultimatum to the Chinese-run app.
President Biden threatens to broaden TikTok restrictions to the public unless its Chinese owners sell their shares. Former US President, Donald Trump did all he could to ban TikTok in 2020, but it turned futile.
The European Union and the British and Canadian leadership have introduced similar bans on official web devices. India imposed a total ban on the Chinese social media app in 2020.
International action on TikTok rolls fast and furious and as it hits up, one common fear stands out: the need to protect national security.
Fears
TikTok is owned by the Chinese tech company, ByteDance. It claims more than a billion users worldwide and in the US, its users exceed a hundred million.
ByteDance and other Chinese firms are required by state law to provide personal data to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) if requested. On TikTok, considerable user data can be stored and accessed and the fear is: it could be harvested and handed to the CCP.
For people with sensitive information on their phones, it poses a more serious threat. Chinese online censorship is extensive. There is no separation between the CCP and Chinese tech companies.
Interestingly, China does not allow the global version of TikTok to be used within its frontiers. It has a censored version named Douyin.
While the Chinese-censored version and that sold out to the world are identical in functions, the content is quite different.
Contents centered on scientific experiments, museum exhibits, education and much more importantly patriotism are featured in Douyin.
TikTok has been accused of promoting misinformation and inappropriate content abroad. There are concerns that ByteDance shares sensitive user data with the Chinese leadership and TikTok could be used by the CCP to push its interests.
What has TikTok said about the restrictions?
TikTok claims it has never shared data with its home state: China. It believes the recent bans are based on fundamental misconceptions.
The Chinese-owned app rejects spying allegations – and says it has spent more than $1.5 billion on – rigorous data security efforts.
Chinese Response
China has slammed the bans and is more critical of the US. The Chinese maintain: the US overstretches the concept of national security, and abuses state power to suppress international companies.
Should Nigeria be alarmed?
TikTok has become a cultural force in this part of the world. It rose to prominence in 2020 and to date remains popular. In Africa, Nigerian content creators form the most enthusiastic users of the Chinese mobile application.
For the record, Twitter has once been suspended in Nigeria. Respect for national cohesion formed part of the conditions tabled to the US-run app before restrictions could be lifted.
China-US relations with tech products remain on a collision course. The US has laid a blueprint – which does not bode well for the future of TikTok.
Data collection is a common phenomenon in the Tech world but the question remains: to what end and for what purposes? It is left to be seen if the Buhari-led administration would hold a similar line.
