Adam Kos The mobile application and social network TikTok would be a bed of roses if it were not developed by the Chinese company ByteDance. It was this company that bought musical.ly in 2017, i.e. the predecessor of TikTok, which was created from it. The geopolitical situation thus interferes with the globally popular platform, whose future is being clouded.
It only took ByteDance a year to make TikTok the most successful app in the US and expand it to 150 markets and localize it in 39 languages. That was 2018. In 2020, ByteDance became the second fastest growing company globally, right behind Elon Musk's Tesla. The app also reached two billion downloads this year and three billion downloads in 2021. However, with its growing popularity, certain authorities became interested in how the application works, and above all how it deals with the data contained, especially that of the users. And it's not good.
If you haven't registered yet, do so “The National Office for Cyber and Information Security (NÚKIB) has issued a warning about the threat in the field of cyber security consisting in the installation and use of the TikTok application on devices accessing information and communication systems of critical information infrastructure, information systems of basic service and important information systems. NÚKIB issued this warning based on a combination of its own findings and findings together with information from partners. Yes, TikTok is a threat here as well, because this is a quote from the official Press Releases.
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Vratislav Holub The fear of possible security threats arises primarily from the amount of data collected about users and the way in which it is collected and handled, and last but not least also from the legal and political environment of the People's Republic of China, to whose legal environment ByteDance is subject. But the Czech Republic is definitely not the first to warn and fight against TikTok in some way.
Where is TikTok not allowed?
Already in 2018, the application was blocked in Indonesia, however, due to inappropriate content. It was canceled after the protection mechanisms were strengthened. In 2019, it was India's turn, where the application had already been downloaded by 660 million people. However, India has strictly adhered to all Chinese applications, including the titles WeChat, Helo and UC Browser. It was supposed to be a security threat to the sovereignty and integrity of the state. That's when the US also became more (and publicly) interested in the platform.
There is already a rule that TikTok may not be used on any device used at the state and federal level. The local legislation has also started to fear possible data leaks - and justifiably so. In 2019, application errors were discovered that could allow attackers to access personal data. Additionally, the iOS version revealed that the app secretly monitors millions of iPhones without their users' knowledge, even accessing the contents of their inboxes every few seconds. This is even if it was just running in the background.
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Amaya Toman TikTok may not be used by employees of the European Parliament, the European Commission or the Council of the European Union, even on private devices. The same is the case in Canada, where they are even preparing measures so that, for example, applications cannot be installed at all on government devices. It should be mentioned, however, that others clearly profit from these bans, primarily the American Meta, which operates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. After all, she fights back against TikTok by mentioning how it is a threat to American society and especially children. Why? Because it affects the outflow of users of Meta applications, which does not make money from them. But even Meta is not one of those companies that are not interested in your data. It just has the advantage of being an American company.
What to do when you use TikTok?
NÚKIB's warning draws attention to the existence of a threat in the field of cyber security, which primarily applies to "obligatory entities under the Cyber Security Act." But it does not mean an unconditional ban on the use of the platform. It is up to each of us how we react to the warning and whether we want to risk any tracking and handling of our data.
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From the public's point of view, it is therefore appropriate for each of us to individually consider the use of the application and think about what we are sharing through the title. In the event that you continue to actively use the TikTok application, the application will continue to collect a large amount of data about you that is not relevant to its operation itself, and which may (but may not) be misused in the future. However, the actual decision to use is a matter for each individual, including you.
