Look anywhere online and you will see many posts on the subject of TikTok = Evil.
However, if you actually take time to read these posts, they rarely take the time to explain in any depth why they think TikTok is the modern spawn of Satan, and I think that’s not fair.
Disclaimer : I don’t use TikTok personally (I’m not cool enough for that!), and I’m not advocating the use of the platform at all – I want to take an objective view on why people say TikTok is so evil.
At first glance, this post from makeuseof.com in April 2022 seems to be taking an objective view on whether TikTok is evil or not, but once you start reading into it, they really don’t and quickly fall into the “It’s doing evil things” with no real explanation.
Take this quote from the article…
“In its privacy policy, TikTok states that it collects “information you provide in the context of composing, sending, or receiving messages.” Focusing on the use of the word “composing,” TikTok doesn’t just collate data and messages you share using the app, but content you created or wrote but didn’t share.”
makeuseof.com/is-tiktok-dangerous
Whilst I get the sentiment here – TikTok is collecting lots of user data, but the thing is ALL social media applications collect data – they wouldn’t exist without huge data farms of their users likes, dislikes, locations, etc. Mark Zuckerberg did not get to be as rich as he is without collecting data on his users to sell to advertisers.
What annoys me here though is the piece where they say that TikTok is collecting “data you created or wrote but didn’t share”. As if they are doing some wierd, magical trickery that no-one else does.
Well, that’s nothing new – Most social Media apps do exactly that, due to the fact that they utilise a technology called AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML).
When using AJAX, every few milliseconds, your device sends your content over the Internet to a server for processing. This technology is not new, it’s been around since 2005.
A good example of AJAX in use is when you use any modern search facility on any website (Google, Amazon, BBC, etc.) When you start typing your search, every letter typed is immediately sent over the web to a server where it is analysed to see what things match that specific string of characters and a list of possible terms is returned to you – most of the time, it gets it right and you now don’t have to finish typing your search, you select the option from the list.
Now, arguably it could be said that TikTok doesn’t need to use such technology on their platform, but why not? FaceBook use it, Twitter uses it, Instagram uses it, no-one is shouting form the rooftops about those guys! So why single out TikTok for using the very same technologies?
When you start to create a post on Facebook or reply to someone else’s post, the app uses AJAX to send your individual characters to the Facebook servers before you click “post”. Even if you decide not to actually post your thoughts and to delete your words, Facebook already has them. This is not new, and it’s certainly not just a TikTok thing.
The very next paragraph on the makeuseof post says:
“TikTok also takes advantage of every access permission you give it, collecting information about your phone’s model, screen resolution, current OS, phone number, email address, location, and even contact list. What is TikTok but a data collection platform?”
makeuseof.com/is-tiktok-dangerous
Excuse me? TikTok is a data collection platform???
Has the author of this post never heard of Google, or FaceBook, et-al?
Platforms like Google, etc. collect more data on their users than the FBI do. Admittedly it’s not great that sites and apps collect so much data about us, but it’s a fact of modern file that it happens so why single TikTok out for it? Is there an agenda here?
The next two paragraphs carry on with the TikTok=Evil rhetoric..
“TikTok stores user data in the US and Singapore, but since it’s owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, they are required by law to submit user data if asked.
And while it’s important to note that there hasn’t been any clear-cut evidence of TikTok sharing data, at its core, TikTok is a ticking time bomb.”
makeuseof.com/is-tiktok-dangerous
Any company which stores data about users is bound by the laws of that country to give said data to law enforcement if served with a warrant, so what’s the point here? Again, this is a normal thing, so why single out TikTok for it?
The final line is simply outrageous “TikTok is a ticking time bomb” – why? What’s so bad? Is it because (as the author is implying) they are owned by a Chinese company? and if so, so what?
Now, before we get into the weeds of China being an oppressive state, ruled with an iron fist, and a bunch of “what-about-isms” – I fully understand the atrocities the CCP have been conducting in their country against minorities such as the Uyghur muslims, and others. I’m well versed in the underhand nature of how the Chinese government strikes deals with other countries to put them in debt to China. I completely understand how the United Work Front Department gathers intelligence and tries to influence western politicians, and people in positions of power.
But what does collecting the data from Jenny (15) of Sussex have to do with it all when she uploads a video of her doing a sing-along to Beyonce? Why is this a ticking timebomb? The author of the piece just drops that in with no explanation – I can only assume it’s to once-more instill fear into the readers.
At least TikTok hasn’t been found guilty to using said collected data to influence major political elections, or other country-wide votes. (yet!)
Is TikTok an insecure platform?
Absolutely. No question about that.
But then again, so is Facebook
So is Twitter
and Instagram
and WhatsApp
and Snapchat
I could go on…
So I ask the same question again, why single out TikTok?
The TikTok = bad rhetoric continues
In the next point of the makeuseof article, the author looks at “who else uses Data from TikTok”, and whilt they don’t actually state that TikTk share data with 3rd parties – again not an uncommon thing by any means. They mention that because TikTok is a video/audio sharing platform which means that they are:
“goldmine for artificial intelligence and machine learning development.”
What, like Every.Other.Single.Website.On.The.Planet?
Any uploaded material to any online platform can be scraped by bots and AI systems.
Once more, I repeat – This is not new, and not unique to TikTok – there are even videos on YouTube showing you how to build a bot to scrape videos from YouTube!
Towards the end of their piece, the author of the makeuseof post concludes with the “long term repercussions of TikTok” and says that as a regular user of the platform, you are increasing your digital footprint which poses a risk to increased phishing attacks, but that it could also stand in the way of future job prospects. Especially those which require security clearences.
Really?
So when Jenny (now 21) from Suffolk applies to join Mi5, she will be refused a role because she did a rather crap sing-along to Beyonce when she was 17. Really?
She’s more likely to be refused a security clearance because whilst at Uni she was regularly smoking weed and having the occasional bump of Ket.
As far as I’m aware, bad singing is not on the security clearance questionnaire.
Use of TikTok on “official” devices
Many reports about the “dangers of TikTok” mention the number of governmental, and professional businesses which have banned TikTok from being installed on their official, or work devices
Well, rightly so.
If you own a work device, or a government issued one, you have no reason to be installing ANY personal applications, and that includes WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter et-al.
Again, it’s not just a TikTok thing, yet they never seem to point this fact out – once again, it’s all TikTok=bad.
Am I biased?
Reading this blog, you may come to the conclusion that I’m in some way in favour of TikTok and that I’m biased towards it.
I’m not.
100% not biased in anyway. As I pointed out in the beginning, I don’t even use the platform.
So how can I say that TikTok isn’t evil?
I can’t – but what I can say, and have done so repeatedly throughout this blog, is state that all the “evil” things TikTok is supposed to be doing is happening on every other platform out there.
What I believe is that platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, etc. are Western-based & owned platforms, whereas TikTok is not, and that’s the underlying issue for most authors. It’s not TikTok = Evil, it’s China = Evil.
My approach is to be neutral with things like this and to try to think rationally. There is a culture of fear-mongering in many online platforms today, and that is not good for anyone.
What I strive to do is provide a way of looking through the fear-mongering and to try to get people to think a bit more critically about what they see and hear.
We need to be able to make informed judgement about the services and platforms we use and consume but the continual “company x is evil” approach from multiple online sources, with no substantiated evidence is not helping matters at all.
Footnote
During my research for this blog, I looked at numerous posts about TikTok, but the makeuseof website was by far the worst offender when it came to their ridiculous claims.
These next few screenshots prove a point…
In this screenshot, from the post is-tiktok-bad, the author states that no-one should ever use TikTok, and you should not encourage anyone to sign-up.
However, on the very same page (in fact it’s the next article), we see this beautiful contradiction…
In this piece, the opening line is:
“TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social networks today, with some of the best video content you’ll see on the internet.”
https://www.makeuseof.com/is-tiktok-bad/
You couldn’t make this shit up!
Well, apparently you can if you write for makeuseof…