TikTok May Actually Have American's Social Security, Tax ID, Confidential Information
TikTok and the Chinese government are coming under scrutiny after an investigation found that they may have (gasps!) lied to Congress about how much private information they have on American citizens and businesses.
According to a Forbes investigation, ByteDance, which is the parent company of TikTok, has been storing American social security numbers, tax IDs and confidential information on Chinese servers. Just last month, TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified to Congress that "American data has always been stored in Virginia and Singapore." That apparently may not be true.
ByteDance is also heavily influenced and some could even say controlled by the Chinese communist government. Not exactly the type of people you want to have your most important information.
Thoughts and prayers everyone, but I can' t say I didn't warn you.
TikTok is facing a possible American ban after collecting data on users. (Photo Illustration by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
HOW IT HAPPENED
As TikTok has grown throughout the years, so has its rise of influencers, creators and businesses that wanted to utilize the social media platform for promotional purposes. They had to give their financial personal information to TikTok in order to get paid based on advertisements, views and more. However, Forbes reports that that sensitive information may be accessible to employees that should not be able to see it. Oh, there's also the Chinese government aspect to the whole mess.
ByteDance denies the allegations while TikTok continues to claim that the information is held in servers in Virginia and Singapore.
Forbes meanwhile says it based the findings on "internal communications, audio recordings, videos, screenshots, documents marked “Privileged and Confidential."
Based on China and TikTok's track record, are you really going to believe them?
Millions of Americans use TikTok on a daily basis. (Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU
It amazes me that I still have to explain this, but you should be concerned that our biggest geopolitical enemy may have once again lied to you. We are already in an electronic war with China - even the U.S. government acknowledges this. But now you, your children and your businesses are once again threatened by a Chinese-backed company regarding your most sensitive information.
We already know that ByteDance and TikTok employees have previously violated their own rules and guidelines. They have admitted taking screenshots of American users (without you knowing), logged their keyboard strokes (think of that the next time you type in a password on your phone) as well as stored photos, videos and other data. You add the fact that they now may have Americans' social security numbers AND tax IDs? Not ideal - especially as things only continue to heat up between our two countries.
THE RISE OF A.I. ONLY MAKES THIS MORE DANGEROUS
We live in a world where people only care about what happens in the immediate future. Teenagers, college students and the younger generations don't see the larger issue that having nefarious actors like the Chinese government having access to all the data that essentially identifies who you are, is not a great thing, especially with the rise of Artificial Intelligence.
Finally, I ask you this: Why does China not allow its own people to use TikTok? Their version is called Douyin and guess what? For those under 18, they are limited to educational videos only and have a time limit. Meanwhile, the Chinese shipped off TikTok to us - knowing that it would cause the mental health crisis we have now.
I've written about it before but I think it's only a matter of time until TikTok is banned here in America. However, because Washington is going to Washington, be VERY skeptical how that comes about as well.
Essentially, it seems like we're all just screwed. It just depends how much you are willingly going to continue to trust those that continue to prove your biggest concerns right.