US President Joe Biden signed into law this Wednesday (24) a bill that orders TikTok, controlled by the Chinese company ByteDance, to have a new trusted US owner within 270 days. Otherwise, the social network will have to leave the country.
According to the US, the main concern revolves around the allegation that TikTok is collecting sensitive data from Americans.
The government claims that this practice represents a risk to national security, as there is fear that China could use the information of more than 170 million American users of the platform for espionage activities. TikTok, in turn, denies the accusation.
If the company does not comply with the American decision, big tech companies Apple and Google will have to remove TikTok from their app stores, App Store and Play Store, respectively.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said after Biden’s sanction that the company expects to win a legal challenge against the legislation.
“Rest assured, we’re not going anywhere,” he said in a video posted moments after Biden signed the bill into law. “The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we hope to prevail again.”
Understand the US and TikTok crisis
Why is the US putting pressure on TikTok? The country says ByteDance poses a risk to the country’s security because China could take advantage of the company’s power to spy and obtain data from millions of Americans. The US, however, does not detail what sensitive data is captured. In turn, TikTok denied that it shares this information with the Chinese government.
What data does TikTok collect from Americans? Publicly, in the USA, the social network claims to collect usage information as well as any content that the person generates or uploads to the platform. It also captures your cell phone carrier, time zone, phone model, operating system, as well as data about the “videos, images and audio that are part of your content.” It is worth remembering that other social networks, such as Facebook and Instagram, from the North American company Meta, collect similar data.
Does TikTok pass this information on to China? ByteDance says it has never shared Americans’ information with the Chinese government. According to the company, these users’ data is stored in the USA. Furthermore, ByteDance is registered in the Cayman Islands, far from Beijing. But an investigation by “Forbes” magazine showed that data from the network’s biggest content creators is stored in China.
Who accesses this data? TikTok says they can only be accessed by a restricted group of employees, who are subject to security controls when they need to view this information.
Will ByteDance be able to sell TikTok in the US? Experts say this operation will not be easy and could increase conflicts between the two countries. “The possible transaction would involve the export of content recommendation algorithms, which requires obtaining a license and approval from the Chinese government. In 2020, China had already added TikTok’s technology to an export restricted list, given the threat of ban by Trump”, says lawyer and specialist in digital law Patrícia Peck.
