TikTok in court on 16 September 2024in an try and overturn a law that may force the video app to separate from its China-based parent company or ban it within the US
During their appearance before a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, TikTok lawyers said the imposition of such a The ban would have “shocking“ Consequences for freedom of expression.
The trial is the most recent development in an extended saga surrounding the fate of an app that is especially popular amongst young Americans but that many politicians in Washington fear poses a security risk.
Whatever the consequence of oral arguments from lawyers for the U.S. government on one side and TikTok and its parent company ByteDance on the opposite, it’s unlikely to be the tip of the story. Many analysts expect the case to find yourself within the Supreme Court.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
But why is TikTok so controversial? Are the claims that it poses a national security risk valid? And what are the implications of the case without cost speech? The Conversation's writers answer these questions and more.
1. An agent of the Chinese state?
Politicians who need to ban TikTok, or not less than cut its ties to China, fear that the app provides a way for the Chinese Communist Party to influence Americans or use their data for malicious purposes. But how much influence does the Chinese government have over TikTok? That's the query addressed by Shaomin Li, a scholar of China's political economy and economics at Old Dominion University.
Li explains that the connection between TikTok, ByteDance and the Chinese Communist Party is nuanced — it's not simply a case of officials in Beijing telling ByteDance to leap and the parent company dictating how high its subsidiary should jump. Rather, as with all firms in China, employees are subject to certain obligations in the case of promoting national interests. In China, private firms like ByteDance operate as joint ventures with the state.
“Regardless of whether ByteDance has formal ties to the party, there is a tacit understanding that management works for two bosses: the company's investors and, more importantly, its political overseers who represent the party,” Li writes. “But most importantly, when the interests of the two bosses collide, the party wins.”
Read more: Is TikTok's parent company an agent of the Chinese state? With China Inc. it's a bit more complicated
2. Exploitation of user data
The risks TikTok poses to U.S. users are much like those posed by many popular apps. Mainly, the app collects data about you. This data, including contact information and website tracking, in addition to any data you post and messages you send through the app, may be used or misused by ByteDance and some other firms which have or receive access to it.
Doug Jacobson, a cybersecurity researcher at Iowa State University, writes that U.S. officials and lawmakers are concerned that the Chinese government could exploit TikTok user data to spy on U.S. residents. Government hackers could use the TikTok data to trick users into revealing more personal information.
But in the case of countering Chinese hackers, a ban on TikTok could prove too little, too late. “By some estimates, the Chinese government has already collected personal information on at least 80% of the U.S. population through various means,” Jacobson writes. “The Chinese government – like anyone else with money – also has access to the large market for personal data.”
Read more: Should governments ban TikTok? Can they? A cybersecurity expert explains the risks the app poses and the challenges of blocking it
3. The security risks of a ban
A ban on TikTok could also make US users more vulnerable to hacker attacks of all types. Computer security expert Robert Olson of the Rochester Institute of Technology writes that most of the greater than 100 million TikTok users within the US could try to avoid a ban on the app, which could have negative consequences for his or her digital security.
If TikTok is banned from Apple and Google's app stores, users could attempt to access the app elsewhere via sideloading. This practice of bypassing Apple and Google's app stores leaves users vulnerable to malware posing because the TikTok app. TikTok users is also motivated to bypass Apple and Google's security controls to maintain the app installed, a move that may make users' phones more vulnerable.
“I think it's unlikely that a TikTok ban would be technically enforceable,” Olson writes. “This … legislation – aimed at improving cybersecurity – could motivate users to engage in riskier digital behavior.”
Read more: TikTok ban could weaken personal cybersecurity
4. First Amendment concerns
In its lawsuit against the U.S. government, ByteDance claims that the federal government is violating the corporate's First Amendment rights. Technology law experts Anupam Chander of Georgetown University and Gautam Hans of Cornell University write that ByteDance has standing to sue, and that the implications extend beyond this case.
TikTok is a publisher, a web based publisher of user videos. Forcing ByteDance to divest from TikTok is a type of pre-censorship – the federal government stopping expression before it happens.
“By forcing the sale of TikTok to a company with no ties to the Chinese Communist Party, Congress intends the law to change the nature of the platform,” they write. “This type of government action touches on the core concerns that the First Amendment is designed to protect against: government interference in the free speech of private parties.”
Read more: TikTok law threatening ban if app isn't sold raises First Amendment concerns
5. What in regards to the others?
Safety and legal issues aside, forcing TikTok to sell to a U.S. company or banning it within the United States is a questionable approach to solving the issues the law is meant to deal with: potential Chinese government influence within the U.S., harm to teenagers, and privacy violations, writes media scholar Sarah Florini of Arizona State University.
The Chinese government – and other U.S. adversaries – have long sought to influence American public opinion using social media apps owned by American firms. TikTok isn’t the one company harming young people, because the Facebook whistleblower case clearly demonstrated. And vast amounts of Americans' personal data are already available to any buyer on the open market and the black market.
“The concerns about TikTok are not unfounded, but they are also not isolated. Every threat posed by TikTok has also emanated from social media in the United States for over a decade,” Florini writes.
Read more: Banning TikTok won't solve outside influence, teen vulnerability, and social media's privacy issues
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