March 1, 2023—Government officials in the United States, Canada, and the European Union are investigating potential data harvesting by the video-sharing app TikTok, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance.
The governments in those countries and the broader EU banned staff from having the app on devices. This week the European Parliament followed recent actions by the European Commission and the EU Council to ban TikTok from government devices. Furthermore, the parliament “strongly recommended” to lawmakers and staff to remove the app from their personal devices, according to reporting by Reuters.
On Monday, the Canadian government adopted similar restrictions.
Biden Executive Order Going Into Effect
President Joe Biden strengthened and replaced an executive order by former President Donald Trump banning TikTok and WeChat on government devices. Specifically, the executive order directs the Commerce Department to evaluate any software application that may “pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security and the American people.”
This week the Biden administration gave federal agencies 30 days to follow through on the 2021 directive. Furthermore, the Biden Administration suggests it might take additional steps.
“We’ll continue to look at other actions that we can take, and that includes how to work with Congress on this issue further,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton said yesterday.
Next Up: Investigations And Potential Bigger Bans
Lawmakers and investigators are now looking deeper into the one-bilion-user app for signs that it poses risk to the general public.
A U.S. body overseeing foreign investment, Treasury’s CFIUS, is investigating potential breaches of private data. A key part of the examination is how the company might comply with China’s national security law, which compels firms to turn over information if asked. TikTok denies any wrongdoing. In December, it said it hired a team to “build further trust and confidence in the protection of US user data and compliance.”
Under the pressure of a possible U.S. ban in 2020, ByteDance considered selling the app to Microsoft and later Oracle. But those deals fell through.
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Jerry Moran are now urging CFIUS to complete its investigation and impose strict rules between TikTok and its China-based parent company. In a Feb. 16, 2023 letter to Treasury, the senators said:
“We cannot rely on paper promises and unenforced half-measures from a company that has abused our trust when our national security is at stake.”
In Canada, the government announced last week it is directing four privacy regulators to look at the company’s use and disclosure of personal information from users. The order comes in the wake of class action lawsuits over privacy issues. One of the lawsuits was settled for $92 million last Fall. In another lawsuit, the plaintiff alleges TikTok Inc. and parent company ByteDance Inc. violated state and federal privacy and wiretap laws by tracking users’ website activity.
Last year, Congress enacted a data protection and privacy bill. A House committee is now looking into broader data privacy protections.
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