The popular video app has been banned from MPs’ phones in New Zealand. Shanti Mathias explains why concerns about its security are so prevalent right now.

What’s this I hear about a TikTok ban in New Zealand? 

Two weeks ago, New Zealand MPs received an email informing them that use of the TikTok app and website will be banned on parliamentary devices by the end of this month.

“The [parliamentary] service has determined that the risks are not acceptable in the current New Zealand parliament environment,” the email said. 

This would make it impossible to install or use TikTok on phones used by members of the parliamentary service, but falls far short of the complete TikTok ban executed in other places – notably India, which banned TikTok in 2020. The move in New Zealand follows similar actions around the world; the US, Australia, and much of Europe have similar bans or limitations on TikTok being used on government devices. Some American states and universities have also tried to ban the use of the app entirely. 

Hold on a sec… What is TikTok? 

TikTok is a video-based app owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and became globally popular after ByteDance merged with a similar app called Musical.ly in 2018. ByteDance also owns Douyin, a TikTok equivalent popular in China (where the TikTok app is not available), which initially implemented algorithm-driven recommended videos. As its popularity has increased over the last three years, TikTok has come under more scrutiny; initially dismissed as an app merely for silly dances, it’s now a force that can make local school assembly songs popular around the world, shape political involvement, spread medical misinformation and earn top creators millions of dollars through advertising promotions.

TikTok has about a billion users around the world, including 150 million in the US and an estimated 1.4 million in New Zealand. These users skew young. TikTok is headquartered in the US and Singapore, and, at least until layoffs last year, had at least 10,000 employees working outside of China. 

 How is it different from other social media apps? 

TikTok is notorious for its algorithm, to which is attributed a near-magical degree of insight into users’ inner worlds. (Like all effective algorithms, it’s complex mathematics that can mimic learning.) It’s also alleged to be very addictive. The form of videos – they can be up to 10 minutes but tend to be less than three – is particularly compelling; users report spending hours flicking through short videos, not registering the time passing. 

However, while TikTok’s algorithm is particularly compelling for some people, the way it gathers this information about users – noting which videos they watch to the end, how long they watch before swiping upwards, which videos they like or interact with more  – is no different from how most other social media operates. Meta apps Facebook and Instagram gather similar amounts of data about users, as does Google’s YouTube and (to a much less profitable extent) Elon Musk’s Twitter. This data generates profit with targeted advertisements and, in some cases, by selling anonymised user data to third parties. Furthermore, both Google and Meta have shamelessly incorporated Tik-Tok style vertical short videos into their YouTube and Instagram products respectively. 

While each of these companies deserve thoughtful and individual examination of their data practices, TikTok is under particular scrutiny because it is owned by a Chinese company. The concern, particularly for people who work in governments, is that sensitive information could be surveilled by China. TikTok has previously said that US and European user data (currently stored in Singapore and the US state of Virginia) could be accessed by China-based staff. TikTok’s privacy policy isn’t particularly transparent; cybersecurity researchers say it’s not clear which information is being collected and how China could use it, as Chinese law allows the government to access data held by companies there to defend their national security. That said, large amounts of information is already accessible to the Chinese state through other hacks, leaks, and security flaws on other services, which a TikTok ban couldn’t fix.

What has TikTok’s response to these concerns been?

TikTok has repeatedly said that data accessible to Chinese staff is strictly limited, non-sensitive, and requires the approval of non-China-based staff. 

Over the last month, as bans have increased and attention on TikTok’s data practices have heightened, the company has announced two major plans to store US and European data in those areas: Project Clover would move European data to Ireland and Norway, and Project Texas, a restructuring in partnership with Texas-based cloud company Oracle, would keep all US data completely siloed and stored in the southern state. 

Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s Singapore-based CEO, appeared in front of a Congressional committee in Washington DC last week, answering questions about TikTok’s security risk, youth safety and mental health concerns, and how Project Texas would protect US data from Chinese interests. Before the hearing, Chew had made a video on TikTok, emphasising that the company is invested in people “connecting, creating, learning, or just having some fun”, and that TikTok is used by millions of small and medium businesses to connect with customers.

While some American elected members remained sceptical of Chew’s claims, Trump’s failed TikTok ban in 2020 shows that there would be major legal and social challenges to completely banning the app. There would also be political debate about a ban; US House of Representatives member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for one, has said a full ban “doesn’t feel right”.  

Would the NZ government fully ban TikTok? 

As Stuff political journalist Thomas Manch has pointed out, even limiting TikTok use on parliament-issued devices isn’t exactly a ban. China is one of New Zealand’s biggest trading partners and an important ally, which means the New Zealand government doesn’t want to irritate them by talking too loudly about potential data security risks. Similar to the 2019 furore about the use of Chinese company Huawei’s equipment in telecommunications infrastructure, it’s unlikely that New Zealand would issue an outright ban on the app – but this will certainly be an area of continued scrutiny, especially as users migrate away from traditional sources of information. 

What could happen next? 

You’ll probably keep hearing about TikTok and security concerns for a while yet, and there’ll be some attention to how effectively TikTok can migrate user data from Singapore to the EU. Ongoing tensions between US-aligned countries and China will keep feeding into these discussions, as well as the wider social licence the app has to operate and take up so much of so many people’s attention. In some places, there may be full or temporary TikTok bans, as has happened in Pakistan (four times!) and India. 

In the meantime, perhaps you could download some of the Indian TikTok clones that have been developed since the world’s most populous country banned the app. Moj, anyone? How about MX TakaTak?