In a surprise move, Oracle has emerged as the frontrunner to be the US partner for TikTok.
The Trump administration instituted a ban on TikTok that goes into effect mid-September, unless a buyer could be found to take over US operations. Microsoft, partnering with Walmart, emerged as an early prospect before Oracle also threw its name in the mix.
Before a deal could be finalized, however, the Chinese government changed its export rules governing what technologies could be exported. It’s believed the new rules directly impact the algorithm TikTok uses for recommendations and engagement. As a result, potential buyers had to start looking at alternative ways to make a deal happen.
According to CBC, ByteDance has rejected Microsoft’s bid in favor of Oracle. None of the involved parties are commenting, so it remains to be seen what a potential deal looks like.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. operations of TikTok have been sold to Oracle pending a security review by the government of the United States. Earlier today Microsoft made a blog post saying their offer for TikTok had been rejected:
ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft. We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests. To do this, we would have made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combatting disinformation, and we made these principles clear in our August statement. We look forward to seeing how the service evolves in these important areas.
via Microsoft Official Blog – 9/13/20
WSJ’s source said that Oracle is set to be announced as TikTok’s “trusted tech partner” in the U.S., and the deal is likely not to be structured as an outright sale. Due to TikTok’s close ties to the Chinese government, President Trump had put pressure on TikTok to sell its U.S. interests as a condition for the app to continue to be available to U.S. citizens.
TikTok’s sale will need the approval of both the United States and communist China before it can be concluded. In recent days, news reports indicated that a sticking point was China’s decision not to allow the sale of TikTok’s underlying coding. It will be interesting to see how Oracle is able to get around this restriction.
Bloomberg News reports on Oracle’s purchase of TikTok’s U.S. operations
As the TikTok negotiations run into trouble, President Trump has indicated he has no intention of extending a ban deadline of September 15.
TikTok has earned the ire of US officials with repeated accusations of privacy and security violations. As a result, officials have repeatedly labeled it a threat to national security and Trump announced a ban that is scheduled to go into effect September 15.
Microsoft and Walmart joined forces and emerged as early frontrunners to buy the social media platform’s US operations. Oracle also expressed interest, with Trump speaking favorably about a possible deal. Unfortunately, for the first time in years, the Chinese government altered its export rules to prohibit selling technologies that include AI, impacting TikTok’s algorithm.
It’s unclear if a deal will be able to be reached, although Trump has made it clear there will be no extension granted.
The Trump administration is looking at banning additional Chinese apps as negotiations over TikTok have nearly ground to a halt.
The US banned TikTok over national security and privacy concerns. The social media platform had gone from one privacy and security issue to another, leading many agencies and companies to ban their employees from using it. The nationwide ban is set to go into effect on September 15, unless a buyer can be found to take over US operations. Microsoft emerged as an early contender, buoyed by Walmart joining the tech giant in an effort to purchase TikTok. Oracle has also expressed interest, supported by Trump.
Ultimately, however, Beijing instituted new rules governing which technologies can be exported, rules that covered the type of algorithm TikTok relies on. ByteDance has said it plans on following the new export rules, all but killing a deal in its current form. One other possibility is to sell the platform minus the algorithm that makes it what it is, leaving a buyer to create a new one.
Now it appears the Trump administration may be looking at banning even more Chinese apps, according to CNBC. It’s a safe bet that the longer this tit for tat goes on, the more companies, services and apps will be caught in the crosshairs.
The Trump administration has been putting increasing pressure on Chinese firms, including Huawei, ZTE, TikTok and WeChat. All four companies have been banned, with TikTok and WeChat’s ban going into effect on September 15. TikTok has been desperately trying to find a buyer before the ban, in order to keep its US, Australia and New Zealand operations going. There has been no such discussions regarding WeChat.
The impending ban has been a major concern for many US tech companies. Apple is especially vulnerable, as it relies on China for a fifth of its sales. WeChat is so important in China that it is used for everything, including messaging, purchasing, paying bills, social media and more. A phone without WeChat would be viewed as crippled in Chinese society. The Trump administration has tried to reassure companies they could still do business with WeChat within China, but the app is very popular among Chinese nationals abroad as a way to stay in contact with family and friends.
In addition to the fallout with consumers, there are concerns over manufacturing. Apple relies on China for a large part of its manufacturing, making it vulnerable to retaliation from the Chinese government.
It remains to be seen if some kind of deal will be reached to avoid a worst-case scenario.
“We saw very strong enterprise growth in the last quarter,” says Box CEO Aaron Levie. “We grew our number of big deals, which we measure as deals above $100,000 in transaction value, by 60 from Q1 to Q2 of this year. We’re happy about the momentum that we’re seeing in the business. Right now we are all hands on deck on supporting our customers and their digital transformation strategies and hopefully really enabling them to have a more secure and more seamless way to work in this environment.”
Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, discusses the company’s continued growth and progress in supporting customers with their push toward digital transformation:
Driving Better Balance Between Growth And Profitability
We’re very happy about the quarter that we just put up. We are stabilizing the growth rate with 11 percent revenue growth. We had nearly a 16 percent operating margin for the quarter. That’s been a trend that we’ve obviously been driving for the past year or so around really driving a better balance between growth and profitability. We improved our guidance on both revenue growth and profitability for the rest of the year. We guided to about 12 to 13 percent operating margin for the full year (FY21) and so we do think these results are sustainable.
Obviously, we want to be able to continue to drive them going into next year and beyond. We’re very happy about the efficiency of the business right now as well as our ability to go out and serve customers and help them power a new way to work in this very very you know dynamic landscape.
All Hands On Deck With Digital Transformation
The first couple quarters of the year we had to step back and figure out in this economy and in this market what could we do to best serve our customer base. In some segments, we had to lean in to make sure that we were better supporting our customers. In other segments, we saw more growth because in spaces like financial services, healthcare, life sciences, and the tech sector there’s still a tremendous amount of economic growth occurring. So we had to do a little bit of a reset in some of our segments, especially the SMB segment. and we’re seeing really healthy pipeline for the second half of the year.
At the same time, we saw very strong enterprise growth among these customers. We grew our number of big deals, which we measure as deals above $100,000 in transaction value, by 60 from Q1 to Q2 of this year. We’re happy about the momentum that we’re seeing in the business. We do expect that we’re going to continue to drive growth coming into the second half of the year. Right now we are all hands on deck on supporting our customers and their digital transformation strategies and hopefully really enabling them to have a more secure and more seamless way to work in this environment.
Need Better Interoperability Between Technologies
In the enterprise segment, you deal with similar questions (as consumer-facing companies do with anti-trust). How do we ensure long-term that you have interoperability between our technologies? If I put my data into one cloud platform will I have the ability to make that data work with other applications from other cloud technologies? Whether or not there needs to be oversight that’s obviously going to be a big question for the government.
What I do think across the industry we do need to continue to work on better standards. We need to drive better interoperability between our technologies. I can say confidently that companies like Microsoft and Google and others are working on making sure that we have greater interoperability between our technology stack. We work with companies like Slack, Zoom, Salesforce, and others to make sure that we have that interoperability as well. But there’s still a long way to go to really create a seamless experience for the broader customer base out there.
No Precedent For The Type of TikTok Deals Playing Out
Aaron Levie: I don’t understand business anymore, but this is very fun to watch.
This is obviously a very strange environment (in reference to TikTok deal rumors). I don’t think there’s been a precedent for this type of acquisition playing out ever. Especially in the back of the antitrust element, you don’t have the logical acquirers of this type of social media technology at play. All you really have are these interesting configurations of maybe not the most classic acquirers of a social tool. This is causing a lot of questions on what is the long-term strategic nature of these deals.
This is especially true for companies that don’t have a strong advertising business model or might not have some of the same demographic within their customer base. That being said, all of the players, whether it’s Larry Ellison or Satya or Doug at Walmart, these are all incredibly smart and savvy business people. I’m sure that behind the scenes there’s quite a deal of strategy going on but it’s certainly fun to watch play out.
Box CEO Aaron Levie: All Hands On Deck With Digital Transformation
Walmart is getting in on the TikTok action, joining Microsoft’s bid to purchase the beleaguered social media platform.
TikTok has gone from one privacy and security scandal to the next, culminating in the Trump administration instituting a ban that will go into effect on September 15, unless a buyer can be found. Microsoft has emerged as a frontrunner, although Oracle has also expressed interest.
Now it appears that Walmart is joining Microsoft in its bid, seeing a unique e-commerce opportunity.
“The way TikTok has integrated e-commerce and advertising capabilities in other markets is a clear benefit to creators and users in those markets,” reads the company’s statement. “We believe a potential relationship with TikTok U.S. in partnership with Microsoft could add this key functionality and provide Walmart with an important way for us to reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace and advertising businesses. We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of U.S. TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of U.S. government regulators.”
It will be interesting to see what Microsoft and Walmart can make of TikTok, should a sale be successful.
“What I worry about is that the US taking a data sovereignty position, which is what this effectively is, sets the precedent that this will now be done against American firms that have a global presence,” says former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. “Essentially, every American tech firm has data that’s stored in the US that’s subject to US law that’s used by Europeans, for example, and they bristle at that. It sets in motion a whole bunch of things that can affect American dominance.”
Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, who is launching a new podcast today, discusses how banning TikTok can spawn international retaliation that can affect American dominance:
Banning TikTok Can Affect American Dominance
I don’t know what this the confidential security concerns are about TikTok. The claimed reason for this action is data sovereignty. In other words, that the people would like to have the data for TikTok to be held in the United States. If that is the goal there is a much simpler way to do it. That is to require TikTok and other companies like it to work with a cloud provider such as Amazon, Google, or Microsoft who have the necessary security protections and are covered by US law.
What I worry about is that the US taking a data sovereignty position, which is what this effectively is, sets the precedent that this will now be done against American firms that have a global presence. Essentially, every American tech firm has data that’s stored in the US that’s subject to US law that’s used by Europeans, for example, and they bristle at that. So now you’re setting the precedent that they can insist on this too. Be very careful about the multi-move scenario, the back and forth in these things. It seems appealing but then it sets in motion a whole bunch of things that can affect American dominance.
I Worry That We’re Splintering The Internet
We have benefited enormously by American values and American technology being used globally. I worry again that what we’re doing is we’re splintering the internet because it’s so easy for a country to say we don’t like these other people. But we are safer as a world because we’re using each other’s applications and that we’re getting to understand each other better. You have to make accommodations for national security. In Huawei’s case, there was some evidence that Huawei was busy doing things that are inappropriate.
There are a number of ways of stopping that and detecting it but the best solution to Huawei is to have a strong competitor in the United States. That strong competitor should be able to wipe them out competitively. So again, we’re playing with Tiktok and with Huawei from a behind position. I’d rather have strategies where I’m quite sure the US will win. We can win these battles with focus, great innovation, all the things that we do so well, open borders, and lots of people using it outside the country.
Banning TikTok Can Affect American Dominance, Says Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Senator Josh Hawley is calling on Google to ban TikTok following revelations the app sidestepped Android safety measures to track users.
TikTok has stumbled from one privacy issue to another. It’s been sued for allegedly uploading videos to Chinese servers without consent, it has abused the privacy of children and been accused of rampant censorship. The social media app’s woes have contributed to the Trump administration threatening to ban it if a deal cannot be reached to sell it to a US company.
In the latest revelation, TikTok sidestepped a safeguard in Android to collect unique identifiers for at least 15 months. This gave the company the ability to track users, giving them no recourse or way to opt out.
Senator Hawley is calling on Google to ban the app as a result.
TikTok skirted a privacy safeguard in Google’s Android OS to collect unique identifiers from millions of mobile devices, data that allows them to track users online without allowing them to opt out.
Sen. Hawley is calling for Google to ban @tiktok_us from its platform.
— Senator Hawley Press Office (@SenHawleyPress) – August 11, 2020
One thing is clear: Even if a US company is able to purchase TikTok, it will have its work cut out regaining the trust the beleaguered platform has lost.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has expressed his concerns about an upcoming ban of social media app TikTok.
TikTok has become widely popular around the world, and has been the big winner among social media platforms during the pandemic. Some might think a TikTok ban would be in Facebook’s best interest, but that isn’t how Zuckerberg sees it.
According to BuzzFeed News, Zuckerberg said: “A lot of people are out there saying that this helps Facebook and my reaction to that is only in the most narrow sense. Yes, they are a competitor this year, and this month, next month maybe our engagement will go up. Maybe it will make Reels a little bit easier just to roll out. But you don’t run a company for the next month or the next quarter.”
Zuckerberg is evidently concerned that banning TikTok sets a bad precedent that could one day be used by other countries to ban Facebook. It remains to be seen if a ban will actually happen, as the ban isn’t set to take effect until September 15. In the meantime, Microsoft is working to purchase TikTok’s US operations. Should that happen, the precedent Zuckerberg is worried about may never come to pass.
President Trump has followed through on his promise, issuing a ban on TikTok, as well as WeChat, with both bans set to take effect in mid September.
Trump has been threatening to ban TikTok as concerns have mounted that the social media platform represents a security and privacy threat. Microsoft is currently working on a deal to buy TikTok’s US operations. Although Trump initially opposed such a deal, following a call with CEO Satya Nadella, Trump gave Microsoft a limited window to make it happen.
It appears that window is 45 days, as executive orders will result in TikTok and WeChat being banned on September 15.
According to Reuters, Trump said WeChat “automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.”
In the order banning TikTok, Trump said the US “must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security.”
Following a weekend of back-and-forth talks, Microsoft appears to be pursuing a deal to purchase TikTok.
TikTok has found itself in hot water, with the Trump administration threatening to ban the social media app. This comes on the heels of numerous controversies surrounding the app’s privacy and security. It has been sued over claims it uploaded user videos to servers in China without permission. Numerous government, military and business organizations have banned the app, and the company has been accused of violating child privacy. In a rare rebuke within the tech industry, at least one CEO labeled it “fundamentally parasitic.”
The end result has been the Trump administration first threatening, and then promising to ban the app in the US. At the last minute, however, Microsoft floated the possibility of buying the beleaguered social media company. After initial opposition from the administration, it appears a meeting between Trump and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has opened the way for talks to continue.
”Following a conversation between Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and President Donald J. Trump, Microsoft is prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States,” says the company blog.
”Microsoft fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President’s concerns. It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.
”Microsoft will move quickly to pursue discussions with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in a matter of weeks, and in any event completing these discussions no later than September 15, 2020. During this process, Microsoft looks forward to continuing dialogue with the United States Government, including with the President.”
Congressman Stephen Lynch, Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, is calling on Apple and Google to provide more transparency regarding foreign apps.
Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding TikTok, India’s purge of Chinese apps and the bans on Chinese telecommunications firms, there is increased scrutiny on the potential security risks that foreign apps and companies may pose. In particular, where user data is stored is a big concern. For example, TikTok was recently sued for allegedly uploading an individual’s data to China without consent.
Both Apple and Google confirmed they do not require app developers to disclose where any stored data will be housed, nor are they required to inform users of such arrangements.
“As industry leaders, Apple and Google can and must do more to ensure that smartphone applications made available to U.S. citizens on their platforms protect stored data from unlawful foreign exploitation, and do not compromise U.S. national security,” Chairman Lynch wrote. “At a minimum, Apple and Google should take steps to ensure that users are aware of the potential privacy and national security risks of sharing sensitive information with applications that store data in countries adversarial to the United States, or whose developers are subsidiaries of foreign companies.”
We will continue to monitor this story and provide updates as it develops.
The hits keep on coming for TikTok as Well Fargo has instructed employees to delete the social media app from their phones.
TikTok has been under siege over the last few months in regard to numerous privacy and security issues. The company has been sued for allegedly capturing and uploading video to Chinese servers without consent, violating child privacy and censoring users deemed ‘poor’ or ‘ugly.’ The app has been labeled ‘fundamentally parasitic,’ and has been banned from the phones of government agencies and military personnel. The Trump administration is even mulling a widespread ban of the app.
Amidst these issues, Wells Fargo has told some employees to delete the app from their phones, citing privacy concerns surrounding it. The ban appears to primarily impact a small number of employees with corporate devices.
“Due to concerns about TikTok’s privacy and security controls and practices, and because corporate-owned devices should be used for company business only, we have directed those employees to remove the app from their devices,” the company said in a statement to CNN Business.
Given how popular the app has become, any widespread ban will likely run into resistance. Nonetheless, the tide seems to be turning against TikTok.
An issue with Facebook had far-reaching consequences, taking down some of the biggest names in iOS apps.
Spotify, Pinterest, TikTok, Tinder and Call of Duty Mobile, along with many others, were all offline beginning Friday morning. The issue was tracked down to the Facebook iOS SDK that all of these apps rely on. The Facebook SDK helps integrate Facebook into an iOS app, and provides access to Facebook Analytics, Facebook Login, App Events, Graph API and sharing options.
Facebook’s developers acknowledged the SDK was the source of the problem, and worked to quickly fix it.
“We are aware and investigating an increase in errors on the iOS SDK which is causing some apps to crash.”
Later that morning, Facebook’s developers had identified and fixed the issue.
“Earlier today, a code change triggered crashes for some iOS apps using the Facebook SDK. We identified the issue quickly and resolved it. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
TikTok has announced plans to pull out of Hong Kong in the wake of a new national security law.
China has been flexing its muscle in Hong Kong, effectively ending the long-standing ‘one country, two systems’ rule. When Britain turned Hong Kong over to Beijing in 1997, its citizens were guaranteed 50 years of autonomy. Despite that, the Chinese government has been trying to exercise more control recently, leading to widespread protests.
In response, Beijing signed a national security law that gives authorities sweeping powers to punish secession and sedition, as well as search properties and prevent individuals being investigated from leaving the city.
Tech companies around the world have expressed concern that China may try to use their platforms for censorship or surveillance, by requiring user data to be stored in China. As a result, TikTok is taking action. A spokesperson told Axios that: “In light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong.”
The move comes at a time when owner ByteDance is trying to distance TikTok from China. The company operates two similar platforms: TikTok for the world, and a government-approved version in mainland China, called Douyin. Given the allegations that TikTok can’t be trusted to protect user privacy, ByteDance is trying to prove it is not beholden to Beijing.
The next few weeks will likely be difficult for all of the social media networks as they come to terms with how—or if—they will continue operating in the city.
iOS 14 has a number of significant privacy improvements, one of which has been a source of embarrassment for several high-profile apps.
Privacy was one of the highlights of Apple’s WWDC 2020 Keynote, with the company outlining the steps it is taking to improve the level of privacy it offers customers. One such feature is clipboard monitoring. In short, iOS 14 will alert a user when an app accesses the data currently held in the clipboard. Given that users often copy and paste bank account numbers, credit card numbers, passwords and other sensitive data, this is an excellent new feature.
Unfortunately for a number of apps, however, they don’t seem to have gotten the memo. In short order, TikTok, LinkedIn and Reddit and several others have all been called out for reading the contents of the iOS clipboard. These apps were all caught accessing the clipboard even when they were not the app involved in the copy and paste function. Basically, once they were opened, they started reading the clipboard’s contents. In the case of TikTok, it appears to have been accessing the clipboard every 1 to 3 keystrokes.
All three companies have pledged to release an update that will resolve the issue. LinkedIn and Reddit blamed the behavior on bugs, while TikTok said it was a measure designed “to identify repetitive, spammy behavior.” While some users may be willing to give LinkedIn and Reddit a pass, TikTok’s intentional use of the feature does not bode well for a company that is already accused of gross privacy violations.
Either way, kudos to Apple for helping put an end to this practice. iOS 14 can’t arrive soon enough.
“TikTok is clearly the winner of this chapter,” says social media marketing expert Gary Vaynerchuk. “You have a lot of families at home together and because TikTok won 13-22 (age group) those characters are spending more time with their parents and everyone’s looking for something to do. You’re also definitely seeing an explosion at the 30-40 (age group) also. The biggest winners to me in social are TikTok and Pinterest. The biggest loser potentially is Snapchat but I think they’re stable.”
TikTok Business Strategy
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia discusses how the pandemic has impacted social media usage and marketing in an interview on Bloomberg:
I think in stressful times big things usually just expose things instead of changes them. TikTok is clearly the winner of this chapter. You have a lot of families at home together and because TikTok won 13-22 (age group). Those characters are spending more time with their parents and everyone’s looking for something to do. You’re also definitely seeing an explosion at the 30-40 (age group) also. I think Instagram in a lot of ways is such the juggernaut but is definitely starting to get chipped away at.
One thing we’ve learned about social networks is they’re more like actual TV networks and actual TV shows. They have a lifespan. TikTok is starting to lose a little bit of its cool factor but it’s still at scale and growing. Pinterest is having huge growth. I think Pinterest is a winner. People are cooking at home. Visual search — I think Pinterest is a winner.
I still look for Snapchat to do something to change their fortunes. I always felt when Instagram came out with stories and gave them a real kind of punch in the gut that they needed to innovate to get back there. I’m a little disappointed I guess just cuz I’m rooting for as much diversity as possible in social. The biggest winners to me in social are Pinterest and TikTok. The biggest loser potentially is Snapchat but I think they’re stable.
The amount of time on YouTube gaming, on Twitch, on Mixer, the consumption numbers are through the roof. If you have a 15-year-old or under in your world, you’re very aware that Bugha or Ninja or many others are more famous athletes to those individuals than any baseball player on earth. So I think that eSports if we stayed in our home forever, is the sport that wins.
TikTok is in hot water yet again, with consumer groups accusing the social media company of violating child privacy.
The Center for Digital Democracy and the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood are leading a coalition of some 20 children’s and consumer groups that have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), accusing TikTok of violating a previous agreement with the FTC.
In 2019 TikTok was fined $5.7 million for violating child privacy. As The New York Times reports, TikTok agreed to a number of changes designed to better protect the privacy of children.
According to the NYT, “as part of the settlement, the video-sharing app agreed to obtain a parent’s permission before collecting their child’s personal information. It also agreed to delete personal information, including videos, of any children identified as younger than 13 and to remove videos and other personal details of users whose ages were unknown.”
In spite of the agreement, it appears that TikTok has not followed through on its promise. This is just the latest issue the social media app has dealt with, as it has faced ongoing scrutiny over security and privacy concerns, with the Pentagon and some government agencies banning the app from employees’ devices.
If the FTC finds that TikTok has reneged on its agreement, the company’s problems will only go from bad to worse.
TikTok has launched Family Pairing, a new feature designed to give parents more control over their children’s accounts.
TikTok has quickly risen to become one of the most widely downloaded apps on either the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The company’s meteoric rise has not been without controversy. The company has been accused of uploading data to Chinese servers without user consent, and has been banned by numerous government agencies over security concerns.
The company has promised to increase transparency and security measures in an effort to alleviate concerns. In its latest move, TikTok is working to help protect children and young people, by allowing parents to link their accounts to their children’s and have control over their settings.
“Today, we are advancing our commitment to building for the safety of our users by introducing Family Pairing, which allows parents and teens to customize their safety settings based on individual needs,” reads the statement. “Family Pairing enhances our suite of safety tools and complements our work to provide greater access to product features as users reach key milestones for digital literacy. It is part of our continued work toward providing parents better ability to guide their teen’s online experience while allowing time to educate about online safety and digital citizenship.”
Given its popularity, it’s good to see TikTok working to improve security and safety for children.
It may be the one of the hottest social media platforms, but TikTok is providing a template of what not to do.
Reporting for The Intercept, Sam Biddle, Paulo Victor Ribeiro and Tatiana Dias say that the company behind TikTok has “instructed moderators to suppress posts created by users deemed too ugly, poor, or disabled for the platform, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept.”
TikTok has faced ongoing scrutiny over privacy and security concerns. The Pentagon released guidance instructing military personnel to delete the app, and the company faces a lawsuit in California over allegations it uploaded videos to China without user consent. The app has also been dogged by censorship concerns and even announced a Transparency Center, for critics to analyze how the company moderates posts.
According to The Intercept, “moderators were also told to censor political speech in TikTok livestreams, punishing those who harmed ‘national honor’ or broadcast streams about ‘state organs such as police’ with bans from the platform.” The policy also called for TikTok moderators “to suppress uploads from users with flaws both congenital and inevitable. ‘Abnormal body shape,’ ‘ugly facial looks,’ dwarfism, and ‘obvious beer belly,’ ‘too many wrinkles,’ ‘eye disorders,’ and many other ‘low quality’ traits are all enough to keep uploads out of the algorithmic fire hose. Videos in which ‘the shooting environment is shabby and dilapidated,’ including but ‘not limited to … slums, rural fields’ and ‘dilapidated housing’ were also systematically hidden from new users, though ‘rural beautiful natural scenery could be exempted,’ the document notes.”
Although a TikTok spokesman said the measures were anti-bullying policies that were no longer in effect, the documents The Intercept reviewed explicitly cited subscriber growth as the real reason.
Given TikTok’s ongoing privacy and security issues, not to mention this kind of mismanagement and missteps, it’s probably a safe bet that TikTok’s growth may be about to experience a slowdown.
