Opinion: Banning TikTok Doesn't make much sense BAsed on What we Know

TikTok is a beyond popular social media platform that has been growing steadily since 2016. The video hosting service boasts stats of 2.6 billion downloads and 1 billion active users. 

There have been many concerns about Tik Tok, however; mostly about whether its parent company (ByteDance) shares the private information of its American users with the Chinese government. Though media outlets have reported this to be the case, no proper evidence has emerged proving such a thing.

Many attempts to ban TikTok were made by the previous presidential administration in the name of national security. It's no secret that the former president has no love for the app. One of his rallies was infamously targeted in 2020. Hundreds of thousands of TikTok users came together, reserving seats at the rally with no intention of attending. As a result, attendance was low and Trump was humiliated. 

Last month, a hearing was held before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The hearing went on for five hours as House members grilled TikTok CEO Shou Chew. Impressively, Chew was able to remain calm and respond in a confident and convincing manner.

The hearing has has since become a popular topic on TikTok. Posts have been flooding the app featuring questions asked of Mr. Chew by the House Committee. Looking over the official transcript, most seem to be pointless. The following is an exchange between Mr. Chew and Republican Representative Richard Hudson:

Hudson: ...my phone is on my home wifi network, does TikTok access that network?

Chew: It will have to access that network to get connections to the internet. If, if that’s the question…

Of course TikTok connects to wifi networks! As do all social media platforms. Even Mr. Chew is confused by this foolish question.

Hudson: Is it possible then that it could access other devices on that home wifi network?

Chew: Congressman, that we do not do anything that is beyond any industry norms? I believe the answer to your question is no. It could be technical. Let me get back to...

Like all social media platforms, there are rules in place that have to be followed. If they aren't, the company is in violation of the law. There isn't a shred of evidence that TikTok accesses "other devices." That would be illegal.

Hudson: You. Okay. I’d appreciate it if you can answer that. I’d like to change directions real quick. Do you receive personal employment, salary, compensation, or benefits from ByteDance?

Chew: Yes, I do.

Hudson: What is your salary from ByteDance?

Chew: Congressman, if you don’t mind. I would prefer to keep my compensation private.

Hudson: Okay. Do you personally have any company shares or stock in ByteDance or Douyin?

These questions about Mr. Chew’s salary are irrelevant and an invasion of privacy. They are pointless and have nothing to do with the matter at hand. 

Let's look at another exchange between Mr. Chew and Republican Representative Earl Carter that has been widely commented on.

Chew: We do not collect body, face or voice data to identify our users? We, we do not. The only thing…

Earl Carter: You don’t?

Chew: No, the only face data that you’ll get that we collect is when you use the filters to have, see sunglasses on your face. We need to know where your eyes are and

Carter: Why do you need to know what the eyes are if you’re not seeing if they’re dilated?

The questions asked, here, by Representative Carter about the eye filter and dialtion are laughable. While this may be a concern of Mr. Carter's, the filter in question simply needs to know where eyes are for the technology to work efficiently.

Chew: And, and that data is stored on your local device and deleted after use if you use it for facial. Again, we do not collect body, face or voice data to identify our users.

Carter: I find that hard to believe. It’s our understanding that they’re looking at the eyes. How do you determine what age they are then?

How can that be hard to believe? People only show their faces for filters, not their body. While there may be some filters out there for the whole body, it is rare. 

Chew: We rely on age gating as our key age assurance age gating, which is when you ask the user what age they are, we have also developed some tools where we look at the public profile to go through the videos that they post to see whether...

Carter: That’s creepy. Tell me more about that.

Chew: It’s public. So if you post a video that’s, you choose that video to go public. That’s how you get people to see your video. We look at those to see if you, it matches up the age that you talked about. Now this is a real challenge for our industry because privacy versus age assurance is a really big problem.

Mr. Chew attempts to explain, here, the safety measures put in place by TikTok for it users to no avail. He also clearly recognizes that privacy vs. age assurance is something that needs attention.

Time will tell whether TikTok is banned or not. But as far as Mr. Chew and a billion TikTok users are concerned, the app remains a platform of expression--a place for people to be creative, entertain others, and make people smile.