On Aug. 6, President Trump signed an Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok. The Trump administration initiated this order in response to American data privacy and security being held by a Chinese-operated company. It prohibits TikTok from completing transactions in the U.S. and may lead to its potential ban in American markets.
A federal judge halted Trump’s order before it could remove the app from the app store on Sept. 28. After months of negotiations on how to safeguard American data, an agreement appeared to be reached on Sept. 21, but it has yet to be approved.
This potential ban on TikTok reinforces the economic tensions between the U.S. and China and their battle for technological dominance. The implications of a banned or censored TikTok sets an intimidating precedent for the future of the global intranet. The rapid development of the online world has broken national barriers, and we cannot rebuild these walls with our data.
It is important to first understand the situation. TikTok touts over 100 million American users and is one of China’s most successful apps. The video-sharing platform is owned by ByteDance, a multinational internet technology company in Beijing. The app appears as an innocent social network; in reality, TikTok gathers a plethora of data on its users.
The company claims that American information is safeguarded, but the concern lies with the Chinese government. China’s National Intelligence Law from 2017 requires organizations and citizens to “support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work.” If the Chinese government were to request data, the company would have to provide it. The Trump administration fears that if China were to use American data, they would gain deep insight into American livelihood and acquire potential economic leverage. These complications lie in the fact that TikTok claims to house American data stateside, yet it is backed up in Singapore.
Rather than banning TikTok in America, negotiations incorporating Oracle, Walmart and ByteDance ensued. Oracle and Walmart will have a 20% share in TikTok Global and 80% will remain with ByteDance. Oracle is vouching for its data security and wants to safehouse American data. The deal has not gone through yet, but it looks like President Trump is leaning to approve it.
American users will likely see no difference in app capabilities if this shift in ownership takes place. However, international tensions are rising, and the need for a global watchdog has been heightened. Already, China’s Great Firewall severely limits citizens’ Internet usage and pushes political motives. Who is to say that other countries won’t enact their own version?
I believe that most social platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok were genuinely created for social integration. However, their power has spiraled out of control. The world’s population has been monetized, and our data is bartered amongst corporations for fiscal fortune.
It is justified that the U.S. government does not want American information in Chinese hands (under the assumption that Trump is correct and China has access to this data). Yet we cannot continue this trend where the top tiers of society manage the majority of its population. New information technologies could end up isolating the world rather than globalizing it.
An alternative is mechanisms such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Implemented into the EU in 2018, it protects consumer data and privacy. The GDPR addresses the process of transferring EU citizen data to other countries and regulates companies within the EU. While it is not a perfect framework, it serves as a reference point.
In reality, creating a global GDPR would be extremely difficult to implement. But that doesn’t mean that steps can’t be taken for nations to collaborate on means to protect their societies. The government shouldn’t control its people. It is the people who hold the power.
