Shocking…
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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Chinese company storing user data in China is non-news unless I'm missing something.
I suppose them "previously suggesting it was all on servers within America" and now admitting that that was false begs the question what else have they lied about?
Wasn't the thing about banning TikTok about where they store US user data (and who can access it)?
And afaik EU has similar rule for EU citizens? Someone who actually knows shit, please enlighten me.
The EU does have a law about it in GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations). The US doesn't currently have any laws against it, but the US is going after China specifically.
The US has made executive orders against software on edge routers, but nothing enforceable about end user data. There was an agreement Oracle would host TikTok's American data to appease the US
Man it’s almost like the US needs sweeping data privacy laws with strict and threatening fiscal consequences that scale with a companies gross income for any violations.
Glad I never signed up for it
I have, and I’d genuinely be curious to know what data they have of mine and how it threatens national security.
Since this entire thread is full of "hurr durr, I already knew that, nothing to see here" style posts, I'm going to attempt to provide something of fucking substance in this thread so that it doesn't turn into another fucking version of reddit.
TikTok is not like the other social media sites, it is significantly worse. Not just because it's a foreign, hostile government that slurps the data from it, we can ignore all that for now.
No, what's important is that you can go on western socmed sites and criticize whoever you want, but on TikTok, criticism of Xi Jinping, Putin Erdogan, or the Uigher genocide will be censored. TikTok also censors pro-LGBT content, and to a higher degree than what is recommended by the countries this censorship occurs in. [Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/26/tiktoks-local-moderation-guidelines-ban-pro-lgbt-content]
Unlike other services like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, or Instagram, TikTok has been banned by numerous government agencies in many countries of the world, as well as by various Fortune 500 companies such as Wells Fargo. But clearly these companies and government agencies know less than a couple of neckbearded former redditors masquerading as experts on the internet.
Beyond that, the app has been found to: collect biometric data such as face and voiceprints, track IMEIs and MAC address (in violation of Google's policies), a keylogger for any links or apps clicked while using the site [Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-22/tiktok-in-app-browser-can-monitor-keystrokes-researcher-finds/101356198].
Still not important enough news? How about when in 2022, employees at Bytedance used location information to try and track journalists critical of Bytedance/Tiktok and dox their sources. [Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/22/tech/tiktok-bytedance-journalist-data/index.html]
Now let's go back to why it matters that it's a foreign government that has all of this access. We already know what happened during Cambridge Analytica, and how this sort of information was used to manipulate an entire country into voting against their best interests, resulting in the clusterfuck known as Brexit, which is currently costing England 100 billion pounds per year.
Don't be an idiot and don't be a simp, this information should make you outraged, not cynically complacent. There's an old saying from a sorta cheesy movie known as the Devil's Advocate: The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled, is convincing the world they didn't exist.
For one final reason why you shouldn't trust TikTok: just look at how China treats our social media, or how they treat TikTok itself, at home, and why it has an entirely different set of guidelines and results for content.
@L4s I thought everyone knew Tiktok was a Chinese data harvesting company
This reminds me of the last week tonight episode with edward snowden.
It was about privacy and the people interviewed didn't care until the question was phrased if it were dickpics the government had access to.
The interview with snowden starts around 14:00
and the fragment about the dickpics around 25:00.
Surprise Pikachu
Shocking! A Chinese company lying, cheating and abusing users data. Impossible I say.
Oh wait. It's wholly expected.
I'm shocked, shocked, shocked! I tell you. Ok maybe not that shocked.
no way
This is such a fucking stupid statement and I've seen it in every thread discussing this shit.
Just because its obvious doesn't make finding more evidence of it not news. This sort of "well duh" attitude plays right into normalizing the idea that hostile foreign governments are spying on us so effectively that im convinced it was started by 50 cent army posters who convinced regular dipshits that it was some brilliant and hilarious response.
Its not funny. Its not clever. It basically derails any discussion because "so obvious, I already like, knew that." Honestly shut the fuck up if you have nothing to contribute and take your low effort bullshit back to reddit.
You didn’t have your breakfast yet, did you?
No, I had my breakfast. In the form of a shitty meme tier sandwich supplied by unoriginal assholes while I'm trying to get additional insights into the articles I'm reading.
So your own government spying on you is okay? Lol
Ah yes, the "what about" argument. The pinnacle of logical discourse and absolutely not a fallacy used by trolls and idiots. Well done. You really got me now.
What a twist...
Shocking.
Oh no my sensitive data is in a country that has no control over me. Better get that somewhere where it could actually bite me in the ass.
Oof, bad take city
Let’s see, we have a screen name, and an email or phone number. Then we have all the public videos you post and the public videos you like. None of that is private personal information. The worst I could find is that you can give access to it to search your contacts for more TikTok users. Also, there is a chat feature. Maybe people are using the chat with an expectation that it is secure?
I don’t like China either, but to get anything usable for espionage out of it China would have to set up AI systems that dig through the data looking for specific topics of conversation and then match those conversations to a list of users through the contacts list. I feel like it is a security risk, but far more relevant to Chinese citizens than US citizens, whom China has no control over. China has no reason to care if you talk shit about President Xi. For a Chinese citizen however, that is a different story.
US firms such as Google, Facebook, and Snapchat have far more data about you. They literally know your location at any moment and the contents of your cell phone. They know the contents of your private text messages, private photos, and private videos. Google develops a profile about you that can literally predict where you will be at any time of the day and guess where you work (they also share some of this info with you). All of this data is presumably stored in the USA, the same country that actually has power over you, if you are American. It can also be subpoenaed at any time or the data can be just willingly shared en mass with the 3 letter agencies at any time.
The TikTok boogeyman hides the actual personal data holders you should be concerned about.
I do not get why every government (politicians) cares about where the data is stored. Just because it is stored in their preferred country does not make it less accessible for the company managing the data. They have to understand that computer networks exist and enable access from anywhere.