Recently, TikTok withdrew the app from Hong Kong, following the passing of new, punitive laws governing data request. Facebook, Google, and Twitter have temporarily ceased processing user data requests from Hong Kong.
Security concerns are mounting
China has been accused of data mining and spying on COVID-19 research, top executives at Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, journalists with sources in China that they want to protect, U.S. government employees, and military personnel stationed abroad.
These revelations have resulted in action by the U.S. military, government agencies, and both the RNC and DNC to ban the use of TikTok on government issued devices.
The striking difference in data security between TikTok and apps like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter is that user data from the app is stored in China. The company has employees in China and the Chinese government owns data gathered by the app.
TikTok denies wrongdoing
TikTok claims it hasn’t given any data to the Chinese government, but that’s a difficult assertion to verify.
