TikTok has said that they are trying to work with the government and is fighting back against the shut down order.
The TikTok saga has been one ridiculous saga to say the least. So, the conspiracy theory (and in the absence of any actual evidence, which is where we still are at, it really is just a conspiracy theory) is that TikTok is a Chinese government mind controlling system made to get people to do the bidding of the Chinese government. Along the way, the Chinese government is spying on users by secretly turning on microphones and web camera’s and spying in the room to listen in on any possible conversation happening in the room. On top of it all, the Chinese government has access to personal information and is able to use their knowledge of which funny cat video or dance video you watched to steal highly sensitive personal information from people and government officials. Yes, there is a reason why I classify this as a conspiracy theory and not a “concern”, “national security concern”, or “privacy concern”.
Because of how ridiculous this all sounds, people like myself have been repeatedly asking for actual evidence. Obviously, the security and privacy community have repeatedly analyzed the platform and its respective cell phone apps and repeatedly conclude that what is, in fact, collected, is not outside the norms of your standard for-profit social media platform. So, if there is some sort of grand conspiracy that makes TikTok a unique threat, the privacy and security community couldn’t find it (which says a lot, actually). Luckily, the US security establishment went before committee to discuss what the found. In response, they came up empty handed, saying that the threats are purely hypothetical and built on little more than speculation over what might be going on.
It’s kind of astonishing that answers to basic questions like “what is the threat posed by TikTok?” have no answers. Yet, the government, and the mainstream media for that matter, seem to act as though there is a smoking gun and that the national security and privacy risks are obvious and that the platform should be outright banned to protect people. You can’t help but throw your hands up and give a giant “WTF?” in all of this.
One of the big questions I had in all of this is even if the Chinese government is pulling massive swaths of personal information out of TikTok as originally alleged, what value does finding out which cute puppy video’s you like watching have for the government in the first place? People like cute puppy video’s. This is not exactly a secret that rises to national security concerns. Personally, if the Chinese government is going after highly sensitive information on people in general, there are much higher value targets out there to get that information in the first place.
Well, right on cue, an explosive story popped up in October saying that hackers working for the Chinese government broke into AT&Ts wiretap system and had access for a considerably long period of time. It pretty much proved my point to the letter that the Chinese government would have higher value targets to get such information. Having access to such a system would mean that all internet traffic could be tracked – not just whether you like dog video’s. While that was a real story, compared to TikTok, the story got a giant “meh” from both government and the media. To that, I once again find myself giving a giant “WTF?” to all of this.
Compounding things was the fact that just last month, an additional explosive story showed that the Chinese government also gained access to Canadian government systems as well. The extent was unclear, but again, that represents a much higher value target than watching “satisfying” compilation video’s. Again, the story with actual concerns gets a free pass for scrutiny while TikTok, for reasons that make no sense, does not.
While I already found the story to be completely ridiculous, the story, to my amazement, reached an entirely new level of absurdity here in Canada. Last month, the Canadian government announced that they would be banning TikTok… the company, not the app. Why? Because the app represents an apparent threat for privacy and national security concerns. Um… OK, so why ban the company, but not the app? Is there a hidden camera somewhere? Am I being punked somehow?
Unsurprisingly, Digital First Canada condemned the move, pointing out that this would cost Canadian jobs while solving nothing. Experts weighed in and they were all equally perplexed by the whole situation – ultimately asking the same questions I was asking above. One even pointed out that this hurts Canada because if a crime is being committed on the platform, RCMP would no longer have an office to send warrants to. TikTok, for their part, vowed to challenge this order to wind up operations in Canada. Who would’ve thought that an order from the government to shut down a business for no real reason would raise questions here? Mind-blowing, really.
Well, to the shock to no one paying attention, TikTok has filed a challenge to the order to wind up operations. From Reuters:
TikTok’s Canadian unit said it has filed an emergency motion with Canada’s Federal Court seeking a judicial review of an order that the company shut down its operations in the country on national security concerns.
The Chinese-owned social media app requested the court set aside a government order requiring TikTok to wind-up its business in Canada, a filing dated Dec. 5 showed.
Alternatively, it said the court could set aside the order and return it to the government for review along with guidance.
Understandably, the order has a lot of employees nervous that they could soon lose their jobs. Still, TikTok is apparently trying to get in contact with the government to try and resolve whatever the heck it is they are so “concerned” about. From National News Watch:
The Liberal government’s move to order the shutdown of TikTok’s Canadian operations over national security concerns has left hundreds of the company’s Canadian employees in limbo.
Ottawa hasn’t publicly specified the date by which TikTok has to comply, and while the company has pledged to fight the order in court, it’s also talking to the government in hopes of finding a “solution.”
On Nov. 6, the federal government announced it ordered the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform. That means TikTok must “wind down” its operations in Canada, though the app will continue to be available to Canadians.
When the government made the announcement, Erin Lowers was at take-your-kid-to-work day, doing a sneaker-painting activity with her niece. TikTok arranged interviews with her and several of the other affected employees for The Canadian Press.
The company was hosting teens that day, telling them “everything about how lovely our work is, how much we love to do what we do, how we got into our positions,” recalled Lowers, the music lead for the company’s global public policy and product team.
“You have to put on a brave face,” she said. “I can’t sit there and tell my niece the reality of what could happen.”
Vanessa Gaik, executive director of brand partnerships, said people are afraid of losing their jobs ahead of the holidays.
It’s unclear if the Canadian government has responded to requests for, at the very least, dialogue here, but still, it is an awful situation for the Canadian employees that are caught in the middle of this ridiculous situation.
Either way, the Canadian government has never specified what the “security and privacy concerns” are, nor was it able to justify the decision of ordering the shut down of the company, but leaving the platform itself alone. In all likelihood, this is a case of the Canadian government not knowing what the heck they are doing and just randomly picked something to action to pretend to be doing “something” over a “concern” that was never really justified in the first place.
A basic level of logic would dictate that the better move would be to implement broad federal level privacy reform so that everyone operates on a set of rules for how to handle personal information. If those rules are violated, then throw the book at those companies. Instead, the government has chosen to fake their enthusiasm over privacy and security by beating up TikTok to cover up the fact that they have been slow walking and dragging their feet on privacy reform for more than half a decade now. Even then, what was presented by the Canadian government in the form of legislation has been criticized for being half measures in the first place.
As far as I can tell, TikTok would have a heck of a lot of good arguments to make over this whole cluster of a situation. It’s beyond belief the situation has gotten to this level of absurdity, yet, here we are. While TikTok trying to get in contact with the federal government is a good move, the federal government already has a big reputation of not really listening to anyone with knowledge on the situation – instead, operating out of personal feelings of a situation. The only time the government listens is when they are completely roped over a barrel and have exhausted all other options. That, of course, leaves the federal courts which could very easily act differently. That will take time to play out, though.
