Growing security concerns over TikTok
In this modern world which heavily relies on technology for geo-political, military and economic reasons, it is quite evident that nations are taking their technological advancements to new heights. After more than two decades since the dot.com revolution, the developments in this field of technology saw exponential growth and it eventually became an indispensable part of the world economy that we see today. Although the internet was historically built on the pillars of transparency and accessibility of information worldwide, various political and government systems with its industries and banking sectors eventually became highly dependent on the internet and consequently, safe and secure internet infrastructures became an essential requirement to protect it from being exploited in the wild. In times where the internet is so localized, different countries are imposing their own regulations on how the internet access would look like in their nation. Splinternet refers to the characterization of the Internet as splintering and dividing due to various factors, such as technology, commerce, politics, nationalism, religion, and divergent national interests. The Great Firewall of China is also a case of splinternet, where the People’s Republic of China imposes a combination of legislative actions and technologies to regulate the Internet domestically. Being the largest communist nation in the world, it viciously exercises dominance and control over its citizens and colonized political minorities by incorporating the latest trends in technology and infrastructure developments. As of 2023, revolutions in the field of Mobile Technology, Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud-Based Technology, Industrial process automation, Robotics, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence are constantly evolving, giving rise to sophisticated digital infrastructures. China’s swift progress in developing sophisticated digital infrastructures within the past two decades have excelled its censorship and surveillance capabilities as a nation. Nevertheless a large number of Chinese telecom networks, electronic companies and mobile applications have faced numerous scrutiny from nations around the globe over how their technology companies operate, how they maintain privacy and security of its users and whether these companies have any close connection with the Chinese government.
The European Commission is the executive arm of the European Union which is responsible for proposing and enforcing legislation and in the implementation of the EU budget. It consists of 32000 permanent and contract employees. On 23rd Feb of 2023, The European Commission banned TikTok from staff devices over concerns about cyber security practices of the platform and more specifically over how it handles user data. The ban also includes that European Commision staff cannot use TikTok on their personal devices that have official apps installed. The EU spokeswoman Sonya Gospodinova said the corporate management board of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, had made this decision for security reasons. In her statement, she mentioned that “The measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the commission,”. Furthermore she added that the ban was “temporary” and “under constant review and possible reassessment.” Although the parliament suspended the use of TikTok on their official devices from 20th March 2023, they also strongly recommended its members and staff to remove TikTok from their personal devices as well. The ban of TikTok on government phones has been introduced to many other countries as well which include the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Denmark and Belgium. In 2020, TikTok was also banned nationwide in India as concerns grew over its potential threat to the national security of India. While other Asian countries such as Afghanistan banned the platform in April 2022 stating that it leads their youths “astray” and similarly, Pakistan also temporarily banned TikTok several times in 2020 saying its content is “immoral” and “obscene”.
Apart from cybersecurity concerns over TikTok, TikTok is required to abide by China’s intermediary laws in which the tech giants would be responsible for a content moderation policy on their platforms which shall strictly be in accordance with the Chinese government. In a nutshell, TikTok also failed to provide a platform that supports internet freedom to exchange facts, ideas, ideologies and opinions concerning geo-political and human rights issues associated with China. TikTok was found to be censoring content which could be sensitive and embarrassing to the Chinese regime, at times quietly changing videos to be visible only to the poster or labeling them as “not recommended” or “not for feed,” thereby making them difficult to access. However, even outside of China, TikTok has been found censoring content that may be banned in Tibet and China but is legal in the jurisdictions where its users are based. This raises some serious implications of Chinese censorship reaching far beyond its borders into free societies. Such censored information has included highly controversial issues such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, Tibetan independence, the religious group Falun Gong, widely publicized pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, Chinese government oppression of the Uyghur Muslim and South Mongolian population, and other issues that criticize the social structure of the CCP. Inside China, Douyin (a short form video hosting service by the same parent company of TikTok) is accessible as TikTok doesn’t operate inside China. Douyin and Tiktok are two completely separate entities and consequently users on these two short video apps cannot interact with each other.
In an era where a lot of internet users around the world are consumed by an excessive dependence on social media and other messaging apps, it is crucial that we should be aware of their security implications in the long run. For instance, mobile apps such as Tiktok are developed with addictive algorithms to attract more users which usually requires user information in registering an account such as our names, phone numbers and emails. Although these platforms seemingly provide free services for us on the internet, in return they also make profit through our personal data and our vast footprints of online activity on their platforms. Chinese applications such as TikTok and WeChat have relentlessly faced criticism in the international scene as a high security threat. Based on its manipulation of personal data of its users and their online activity, these apps were found to incorporate sophisticated surveillance and censorship tactics. The device permissions required in installing these apps can also be manipulated by Chinese authorities upon request as parent companies of these Chinese apps must abide by the strict laws and policies of the regime. Such device permissions required by these controversial applications include microphone, camera, location and storage. In a region where the flow of information is being controlled, surveillance and censorship are certain. Thus refraining from using such applications is very essential for the sake of our online privacy and security as individuals, organizations and nations at large. We must switch to alternative secure apps that not only provide us an entertainment platform but maintains an adequate level of user privacy and security. Social media apps such as Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Triller are comparatively safer than TikTok. Likewise Signal, Wire, Element and WhatsApp are way more secure than WeChat.
Some of our key recommendations to secure online presence in our devices are as mentioned below.
- App Security :
- Don’t install if you don’t need them : Refraining from installing seemingly cool apps which you don’t really need minimizes complexity and vulnerability associated with unknown and unofficial applications.
- Always check the app permission before installing : Reviewing app permissions is essential to prevent malicious apps from compromising our device and data by exploiting the permissions we provide them.
- Encryption : Applications that run by the internet always communicate with its servers to deliver its services. Apps which consist of secure encryption technologies encrypt the data which is transmitted from the user to the server and thus maintains security and privacy of the user.
- Who owns the app : Depending on where we live in this world, we must ensure whether the company or that individual running the app has any voluntary or forced obligation towards certain governments we may want to avoid. It is vital to ascertain whether they have any history of handing over user data to any government who have requested it, especially those who are involved in social or political activism.
- Server Location : Much of our personal data we provide in registering an account in an application are stored within the app server. If the data servers of such apps are located in an authoritarian region where tech companies have an obligation to play by the rules of its regime, the data within these servers are at risk of being exploited for economic and geo-political reasons. This also may pose a potential threat on the national security level.
- Don’t be hoarder : Sensitive information in our devices should be cleared as frequently as possible to defy traceability and accountability from the prosecutor. Hoarding sensitive data in devices for a longer duration may put its user in jeopardy of being arrested and criminalized.
- Using circumvention tools such as VPNs : We also believe that in daily communication we can hide our personal identities on a certain level by making use of reliable and trustworthy VPNs. Using VPNs reduces the traceability from the authorities who monitor the communications.
- Updating your device : We also believe that updating our device software/OS to the latest version can protect us from outdated spywares and malwares if installed forcefully or accidentally as well.
- Choose secure communication platforms : It is very important to use secure messaging applications when the information being exchanged between two parties is sensitive or “deemed” sensitive by an authoritarian regime.
