Rowena Farrugia Linguist and translator based in Malta; Diplo Alumna
Our TikTokable lives: Can 15-second ‘lifebites’ pose a threat to national security? First published on Diplo Blog, 20 April When the pandemic was declared last year, and lockdown measures were put in place, stress and anxiety levels were not the only things to spike. By April 2020, TikTok generated a staggering 2 billion downloads across the globe, just 5 months after having surpassed 1.5 billion downloads, making it the most downloaded app in the first quarter of 2020, or in any quarter until then. As the increasingly popular app drew in teens by the millions, with its flurry of bite-sized videos showcasing lockdown-inspired creativity, its ties with China made alarm bells ring in Western ears, especially since international organisations and world leaders also launched their own TikTok accounts as a means for effective engagement with future voters and decision-makers. In June 2020, India banned TikTok, citing cybersecurity concerns. The ban, however, coincided with the Himalayan border dispute in which 20 Indian soldiers perished. One cannot help but wonder whether this retaliation stems from genuine national security concerns over the possibility that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, may be forced to share data with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or whether it is a symptom of India’s geopolitical tensions with China. However, experts have insisted that the security charges put forward by the international community vis-à-vis TikTok can be dismissed. First, TikTok’s hunger for user data is by no means superior to that of other social media apps. This offers no consolation, since the amount of user data gathered is still shocking. Among the data gathered is the phone model and operating system used, and which videos are watched and commented on by users. However, these user-data collection practices are not exclusive to TikTok, seeing as Facebook itself seems to have lost track of all the ways it surveils its users. Therefore, if we were to follow this argument, the charge of rapacity for user data aimed at generating revenue does not hold up. So, why deny millions of teenagers the fun outlet TikTok provides?
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