Congress vs. TikTok

 Hello There,

On Thursday, March 23rd, the CEO of TikTok appeared before Congress to address concerns about the company's protection of user privacy in light of accusations that the Chinese government is able to access the data the app collects. 

Throughout the hearing, CEO Shou Chew was bombarded with questions and accusations regarding his company's relationship with China. Mr. Chew's main defense was that Congress could present no hard evidence of collusion with the Chinese government, making all their accusations theoretical at best. He went on to say that the data collected by his company is comparable to other U.S. based apps like Meta (formerly Facebook). According to an article in Glossy multiple TikTok influencers have spoken out on the "ridiculous" nature of the hearing and the questions posed. I agree with their assessment of the nature of this hearing. 

Just not for the reason you may think. 


I believe that Congress is correct in believing that the app TikTok may pose a danger to society. However, that is not because the app could be leaking data on American citizens to China. It is due to the nature of the app and every other social media app that I am concerned. 

The kind of data that TikTok collects on its users includes things like content preferences, amount of time spent on the app, the comments made on public messages and through private chats. This is no great secret. It is also no great surprise because every other form of social media does about the same thing. This information is used to create ads targeted to the user and the app makes money off of selling those ad placements. All of this is standard practice for every form of social media that exists, and none of this information is a secret. Most of us just scrolled past it to click the "I Agree" button. 

TikTok exists to present ads to its users, so it is in the best interest of TikTok to keep users engaged. And the app's algorithm will keep them engaged at all costs. 


 

Perhaps you've heard the term "doomscrolling" before. If the above definition isn't enough, here's a more visual example:


Ever realize that you've just wasted hours on social media, only to still be unable to pull yourself away? That's doomscrolling. 

And it's not a bug in the system. It's a feature. 

This won't just cost you your valuable time however, being chronically online can cause real-world harm. For impressionable kids (like the majority of TikTok's users), the desperate attempts of the algorithm to keep them engaged can lead to dangerous challenges and trends working their way onto the "For You" page. Some social media platforms have only begun recently to pay attention to the quality of information that circulates their sites rather than just the quantity of likes and comments a post receives. Most still do not. 

So, is TikTok dangerous? I agree with the CEO of the company; it's no more dangerous than any other social media platform. 

Which is to say it's very, very dangerous. 

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