Fri., Nov. 8, 2019 Volume CXIV, Issue 4 The student news publication of Walnut Hills High School WHHSCBOX.COM
pg. 4 BLINK IF YOU MISSED IT. The light festival took over Cincinnati for the second time
pg. 5 ACT NEW FORMAT. In 2020, ACT retakes will be taken online and by section
pg. 6 JOKER v. VENOM. Chatterbox’s resident movie critic gives his two cents
Tik Tok under fire for breach of privacy WHHS’ own Tik Tok stars Kayla Bryant, ‘21
ABIGAIL JAY / CHATTERBOX
SENIORS Alma Russell and Cat Henning practice a popular dance from the app Tik Tok while SENIOR Elliot Hull frames the shot. Tik Tok has taken WHHS by storm, with several students gaining thousands of likes each day. Azariah Cuff, ‘23
out the individual even knowing. Recently, Tik Tok has been creating privacy concerns The topic of social media and its effect due to its lack of privacy settings available on teenagers in today’s society has been long and the fact that the young users on the app debated in schools across the globe. For feel “exploited by creators through digital some, it’s perfectly acceptable, no questions gifting,” as reported by BBC. asked. For others, it’s the complete opposite. This isn’t the first time Tik Tok has faced The fact that there’s no way to ensure that complaints over this issue. Kerry Flynn, the content you post on Twitter, Snapchat a writer for the online magazine Digiday, and Instagram are completely safe under wrote about Tik Tok’s mounting privacy islock and key is a particular area of concern sues. In his 2018 article, Flynn said that Tik for many. Although you may never be part Tok faced “a criminal record of $5.7 million of a terrorist plot to take down the U.S., you for illegally collecting personal information can never guarantee that there isn’t a chance of children.” Furthermore a court in India that the sacred door to your private life “banned TikTok for exposing children to could any day be unlocked by corporations sexual predators, pornographic content and and government agencies alike. cyberbullying,” as reported by CNN. The popular social media app Tik Tok, However, the problem that people might has been a rave topic throughout many high have with Tik Tok’s privacy terms this time, school lunchrooms and beyond. This app isn’t with general stolen information and exposure, it’s with “It should be illegal. It’s basically like steal- the people behind it. Recently, citizens in ing something from the store, but instead Hong Kong, China have been protesting you’re stealing someone’s information,” proposals towards - Chara Sarr, ‘25 the extradition bill has been used globally by all ages, races and in order to reclaim their civil liberties. The genders. There have even been cliques and bill allowed local authorities to detain and memes formed from the pop culture phe- deliver criminal fugitives to mainland China nomenon that are clearly displayed on the under specific circumstances. However, this “for you” page of the app itself. bill was withdrawn weeks later, but police Previously called Musical.ly, this main- brutality and immeasurable amounts of viostream app makes history as the “superior lence against the protesters have continued of social media” breaking the charts, and to persist. enticing its users. According to the marketTik Tok is owned by a Chinese company ing website, Konstruct Digital, “TikTok named ByteDance, but many people, spewas downloaded 68 million times in Octo- cifically teens in the United States, are unber 2018, making it the world’s third most aware of this. According to USA Today, the downloaded application.” company has been using this as an “internaThis could also mean that the more people tional strategy” to break into U.S. markets. using the app, the more exposure they have This could be true, but there also could be to the risks of having their private informa- a chance that the company had another ultion leaked or stored in secret databases with- terior motive, and based upon the public’s
current knowledge of the state of the Chinese government, the possible outcomes of the stolen information is becoming all too surreal. Claudia Binacotti, a writer for the Pearson Institute of Economics, wrote that ByteDance could be using Tik Tok as an alleged platform for future military tactics. “They upload videos of themselves, often executing fitness exercises, in uniform and with ID tags in plain sight. The filming happens inside military facilities, and sometimes in what looks like a war theater. TikTok, like the vast majority of social apps, collects location data,” Binacotti wrote. Many parents have been raising their eyebrows as to whether Tik Tok is even a generally safe platform for their kids. WHHS students also express their concerns, and ask the question if social media itself could possibly jeopardize their safety with just one click of a button. “It should be illegal. It’s basically like stealing something from the store, but instead you’re stealing someone’s information,” Chara Sarr, ‘25, said. Tik Tok’s privacy policy states that they “collect contact details, content you create, and your location,” as well as “information contained in the messages you send through our platform and information from your phone book, if you grant us access to your phone book on your mobile device.” The privacy concerns have created skepticism, just as any controversial topic would. The cause could either be viewed as a glitch in the system or simply just the negligence of its users. Other students, like SENIOR Miles Cooper, have a similar perspective on the issue. “I think it’s just a Tik Tok thing… now that it’s starting to get more popular it probably wasn’t as secure,” Cooper said, “People should just be more careful about what they put online.”
SENIOR Luke Heikenfeld
SENIOR Sam Bartos
PHOTOS BY ANSON BATTOCLETTE/ REM