Thus far, Undertaking Texas seems to be primarily an train in geography, one which appears well-positioned to handle issues concerning the Chinese language authorities accessing Individuals’ private info. But it surely doesn’t tackle different ways in which China might weaponize the platform, like tweaking TikTok algorithms to extend publicity to divisive content material, or adjusting the platform to seed or encourage disinformation campaigns.
Adam Segal, director of the Digital and Our on-line world Coverage program on the Council on Overseas Relations, instructed BuzzFeed Information that the Chinese language authorities’s affect on TikTok’s algorithms is a extra urgent concern than information exfiltration. “I’ve by no means seen a very good argument about what the Chinese language might get from TikTok information that they will’t get from tons of of different sources,” he mentioned. However he did level to examples of the Chinese language Communist Get together utilizing know-how to warp digital discourse, together with TikTok’s earlier censorship of speech dangerous to China’s “nationwide honor,” and a 2020 try by a China-based Zoom worker to disrupt video conferences commemorating the Tiananmen Sq. bloodbath.
TikTok vehemently denies accusations that it censors speech crucial of China immediately. And members of TikTok’s Belief & Security crew, which makes and enforces content material insurance policies for the corporate, portrayed it as comparatively properly insulated from ByteDance affect. Workers described Belief & Security staff as having much less frequent contact with Beijing, and clearer strains of reporting, than different staff that BuzzFeed Information spoke to — and described TikTok’s Belief & Security practices as just like these adopted by US-based tech giants. Nonetheless, the query of reporting construction looms giant: Like different senior TikTok officers, its head of Belief & Security experiences to TikTok’s CEO, who experiences to ByteDance as TikTok’s company proprietor. And so long as the buck stops with ByteDance, “there’s a ceiling” to how a lot TikTok can distance itself from the Chinese language authorities, Lewis mentioned.
US lawmakers have made clear that their issues about TikTok transcend the place information is saved. In a 2019 tweet, Sen. Chuck Schumer mentioned that below Chinese language regulation, TikTok and ByteDance “may be compelled to cooperate with intelligence work managed by China’s Communist Get together.” At an October 2021 Senate listening to, TikTok’s Head of Public Coverage for the Americas Michael Beckerman testified that TikTok’s privateness coverage permits it to share the data it collects (together with US person information) with ByteDance. He declined to reply questions from Sen. Ted Cruz about whether or not the coverage permits TikTok to share that information with Beijing ByteDance Expertise, one other ByteDance subsidiary that’s partially owned by the Chinese language Communist Get together.
On the similar listening to, Sen. Marsha Blackburn requested Beckerman whether or not ByteDance staff had entry to TikTok’s algorithm. Beckerman, indirectly answering the query, mentioned that US person information is saved within the US. Blackburn additionally requested whether or not there are programmers, product builders, and information groups in China engaged on TikTok. Beckerman confirmed that there are.
Lawmakers past the US have additionally raised issues about TikTok’s relationship with China. In June 2020, the Indian authorities banned TikTok, WeChat, and greater than 50 different Chinese language apps after a conflict on the India–China border that killed 20 Indian troopers. India’s regulatory physique, the Ministry of Electronics and Info Expertise, alleged that the apps have been “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting” Indian person information to information facilities exterior of India. In August 2020, intelligence businesses in Australia started investigating whether or not TikTok poses a safety risk to the nation. In September 2021, Eire’s Information Safety Fee opened an investigation into how TikTok transfers person information to international locations exterior the EU.
The similarities between completely different international locations’ regulatory issues about TikTok and China emphasize the potential significance of Undertaking Texas. If it succeeds within the US, the mission might function a roadmap for TikTok in different jurisdictions (even perhaps in India, the place it has been banned). It might additionally function a mannequin for different giant firms, like Amazon, Fb, and Google, which face related issues from abroad regulators about accumulating their residents’ private info.
Graham Webster, editor-in-chief of the Stanford–New America DigiChina Undertaking on the Stanford College Cyber Coverage Middle, sees TikTok as “a guinea pig” for lawmakers’ inherent skepticism about overseas firms accumulating their residents’ information. Nonetheless, Webster says he’s optimistic, as a result of ByteDance has a heavy incentive to get regulators totally comfy with TikTok.
“It is a firm that’s in search of a approach for this to really work,” he mentioned. “They’re going to maintain making an attempt till there’s an apparent defeat, as a result of the amount of cash on the desk is gigantic.” ●
