TikTok has taken out full page ads in newspapers along with placing ads through social media asking to ‘Don’t make Tiktok a political football.’
TikTok Australia has claimed the app is “one of Australia’s most loved” after the social media giant has recently had its privacy and user data gathering and usage questioned. The company states though that Australian user data is stored in Singapore and the United States, while they are working to minimise access across regions.
TikTok Australia has sent letters to Federal MPs outlining that TikTok is independent and not aligned with any Government, political party or ideology. Lee Hunter, GM of TikTok Australia has stated as part of the letter, that:
We are a privately owned company, and TikTok is focused on enabling people to make and share creative and fun videos. We strive to be a platform that is both safe and fun to use, and we prioritise protecting the security of our users’ data.
The truth is, TikTok is a fun and engaging platform for sharing creative expression through video – that is being used by some as a political football.
TikTok have also released a video outlining the issues that have been floated and bandied about in the media recently including bans in various countries like India and possible bans of the app here locally which you can view below:
Hunter has also said that TikTok already has multiple safety measures in place for consumers, and they are continuing to invest in making it even safer. They are looking to meet with policy makers to talk about TikTokand demonstrate the steps that they are taking to “make it an even safer and more creative place”.
TikTok Australia user data is stored in Singapore, and our Chief Information Security Officer has outlined our efforts to minimise data access across regions. Similar to industry peers, we will continue to drive our goal of limiting the number of employees who have access to user data and the scenarios where data access is enabled. Although we already have controls in place to protect user data, we will continue to focus on adding new technologies and programs focused on global data residency, data movement, and data storage access protections worldwide.
TikTok Australia has said that it takes personal security and personal data seriously and it has released a blog post about it and their new transparency report here.
It is unsure if this new public relations move will help abate calls for the app to be looked into and a possible ban being placed for the app, especially given the current political climate. The proactive move by TikTok is a lot more than other social media websites we have seen perform when they have had their privacy and security measures questioned but it remains to be seen if it helps them.
Surely we cannot ban every app made in China? What do you think they need to do for you to be able to trust them?
Any company in China with more than 100 employees is basically CCP owned. If CCP owns ByteDance and ByteDance owns TikTok, then go figure whom could own your data. Anyway there are quite a number of other Chinese apps that are banned in the west. This is not a clear black and white, just TikTok is the app of the hour due to it’s potential influence. The real issue is all those impressionable young users who have become addicted to the platform and that’s harder to stop. Soft power is key to CCP and the Americans are right to be… Read more »
Alex, why should the West, NOT reciprocate the difficulty China places on Western apps and services being permitted to enter and operate in the Chinese market?
Personally don’t use the app, but there’s no reason to ban an app simply because it originates from China. I do hate the fact they are defending their own data collection practices though. They secretly collect so much user data that they don’t need, and even though they say its protected, they shouldn’t be collecting all of it in the first place. Should a government intervine when an app gathers so much irrelevant data? Probably not. However perhaps Google and Apple should.
Governments need to intervene when such a huge amount of user data is being hoovered up, in secret, by an app, irrespective of where the company behind the app is from, what countries the data is being routed through, or where the data is being stored. Limits on what data is allowed to be gathered, both in type and quantity, needs to be crafted and enforced, as well as making it illegal to collect the data in secret. TikTok DOES deserve to be made a political football. Not solely and simply because of their being from China, that’s merely the… Read more »
I would agree that governments should intervene if apps themselves don’t limit the gathering, and that the marketplace owners don’t do it either. Then it does fall onto government to protect their citizens.
I don’t believe any government, except perhaps India, has declared Tiktok to be “malware”.