Hi guys, as I was reading various articles on the FCC’s Commissioner’s messages to Apple and Google’s CEO, I found out other information and decided to compile it here for a quick snapshot.
Highlights from FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s message to Apple and Google CEOs
- TikTok has been reviewed by both Google and Apple and included in their respective app store.
- TikTok has been downloaded 19 million times(US) in the first quarter of 2022.
- TikTok poses a national security threat.
- Person/s in Beijing have unfettered access to the sensitive data harvested by TikTok.
Tik Tok Facts
- TikTok is owned by ByteDance.
- ByteDance is beholden to the Communist Party of China.
- ByteDance needs to comply with PRC’s(People’s Republic of China) surveillance demands.
What data does Tik Tok collect?
- Search & browsing history
- Keystroke patterns
- Biometric identifiers
- Face prints
- Location data
- Draft messages
- Metadata
- Text, images & videos stored on a device’s clipboard
TikTok under scrutiny
- In 2019, TikTok paid $5.7 million to settle FTC’s allegations that its predecessor app illegally collected sensitive data on children under the age of 13.
- In March 2020, researchers revealed that TikTok was accessing sensitive data such as passwords, cryptocurrency wallets, and personal messages through the Apple App Store.
- In August 2020, TikTok circumvented a privacy safeguard in Google’s android operating system to obtain data that allowed it to track users online.
- In 2021, TikTok paid $92 million to settle lawsuits alleging that the app ‘clandestinely vacuumed up and transferred to servers in China.
- An investigation identified a ‘Master Admin’ in Beijing that has access to all the data.
Why is Tik Tok a threat?
- A leaked manuscript/audio recording report revealed that ByteDance officials in Beijing have accessed sensitive data that Tik Tok has collected.
- Tik Tok has represented that the data that it collects on US users is stored in the US which is not true.
- PRC has developed some of the most invasive and omnipresent surveillance capabilities in the world.
- US military branches and US national security agencies have banned Tik Tok from their official devices.
