Concerns about the tiktok app
There are many concerns that have become worrying many countries because of the application of Tik Tok, and the United States of America comes at the head of these countries, because of the danger that the application poses to national security due to the application of Tik Tok, which has its origins in China.
Recently, the TikTok company responded to a letter signed by 9 members of the US Senate, and the content of the letter was that the TikTok application poses a threat to national security, because it allows those responsible for it in Beijing to identify a collection of data about the user in the United States. American.
And after the US Federal Communications Officer asked to delete the TikTok application from both Apple and Google, the application was removed from the online stores of the two companies, and the reason for this is due to the United States’ fears of China.
The TikTok application company confirmed in a letter in response to the US Senate letter that it will take all necessary measures to stop the application from the United States of America, but it will support its protection outside the state and provide it to whoever desires it.
Through the following lines, we will mention in detail the concerns of the Tik Tok application, so let us proceed together.
Official claims
Where the TikTok company sent the content of this message to 9 members of the US Senate, in which the company answers a set of questions that the members directed to the company, all of which were related to storing data via TikTok.
TikTok stated that all data related to the use of the TikTok application by Americans is stored on the Oracle of the United States of America.
TikTok added that the company's employees in China can access this data, but this depends on a protocol for authorization and security monitoring operations.
And TikTok confirmed that China had confirmed that this data was not shared, and the company added that it had not passed any information about American users on China, in addition to that it had not done so even if it was asked.
In addition, those responsible for the group stated that although ByteDance engineers worked on algorithms in the platform, the new protocol guarantees, according to TikTok, that they will only be able to do so in the American Oracle computing system, in order to extract data from it.
TikTok is currently under review by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States of America, a government agency that assesses the risks of any foreign investment to America's national security.
Tik Tok responds
In response to the senators' letter, Chuzi Chu, CEO of TikTok, clarified a set of details about the nature of TikTok's work with the John Biden administration, in relation to an agreement that would (completely protect user data and the national security interests of the United States of America.
The company explained the 8-page letter, which was seen by The New York Times and quoted by it, that employees residing in China can access information about a TikTok user in the United States of America, which is subject to a set of cybersecurity rules and approval protocols.
TikTok added that despite the aforementioned, it will work hard on existing data problems, as it expects to delete protected data for American users from the company's systems, and to focus entirely on Oracle cloud servers located in the United States of America.
In his letter, Zhou added that the trading rate of TikTok shares increased, as it is one of the most scrutinized platforms due to doubts about the strength of its security, and that the company is working hard to remove any doubts of any kind about the security of the data of American users.
At the beginning of the week, Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican, who was appointed during the reign of former US President Donald Trump, asked Apple and Google to remove the TikTok application from their online stores, and the reason behind this was that the application collects Data about users poses a threat to the national security of the United States of America.
What did the US government do to address concerns about TikTok?
In 2020, the application caught the attention of Donald Trump's administration, which ordered ByteDance to get rid of the Tik Tok application, although the sale did not actually take place, in addition to the fact that the application was banned on many phones that the US government issued, in addition to this. It was also banned by the military.
Currently, the John Biden administration is examining the risks resulting from the TikTok application, through the Foreign Investment Committee, which is a group of government agencies that examine foreign purchases for the United States of America, as it reviews many concerns that worry and threaten national security. For the country, agencies are actively taking steps to mitigate risks and concerns.
During Trump's rule in America, he was concerned about the security of the platform's data, and he also tried to force ByteDance to sell his company to Oracle, and when Trump could not put pressure on ByteDance, he issued a set of executive orders banning the service of the TikTok application, but when John Biden assumed the presidency of America, he cancel these decisions.
On the other hand, the current US president asked his administration to measure the size of the risks that actually occur due to foreign ownership of websites and applications on the Internet.
Is the threat real?
And the answer is no, as the CIA concluded that Chinese intelligence could view TikTok data, based on a 2020 New York Times report, but there is no actual evidence that it did so.
But she stated that, like all other social media companies, they collect information about what users like, what they focus on watching, and how they interact with it.
She added that any third party can create misleading information campaigns about the user experience, such as what Facebook did in the 2016-2020 election cycle.
And many national security agencies have warned of the danger that may arise from leaving technology companies that have a relationship with China and allowing them to deal with the United States of America, and the reason for this is that law firms operating in China may be forced not to share information about users with communist governments.
Previously, we provided you with everything related to the concerns related to the Tik Tok application , how the United States of America provided some solutions to address this matter, and we would like to have provided you with everything you want to know about this topic.