TikTok facing government scrutiny in India and Australia

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...isguised-as-social-media-liberal-senator-says

We said this before about facebook, twitter, instagram, youtube, twitch collecting data. Now the Australian Government has concerns over Tik Tok and thats up for debate. But wait its investor is from China but the CEO is in the USA

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide....e-indian-user-data-to-the-chinese-government/

Popular video messaging app TikTok may be “a data collection service disguised as social media” that requires greater scrutiny by Australian users, the deputy chair of the Foreign Interference through Social Media inquiry has said.

Liberal senator Jim Molan made the comments to Guardian Australia after Nationals MP George Christensen accused TikTok of being “used and abused” by the Chinese Communist party and called for it to be banned. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has also urged caution on people handing over their data to the app.

TikTok Australian general manager, Lee Hunter, has said it does not share users’ data with foreign governments and dismissed similar concerns from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Aspi) that there are “[CCP] cells inside the company” as not credible.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a technology company headquartered in Beijing, and has 1.6m Australian users, most under 25.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...g-response-india-app-ban-200704070431391.html

Also the Indian Government has concerns for Tik Tok. Expect a Boycott soon similar to Facebook inc and facebook owned apps.

Social media app TikTok has distanced itself from Beijing after India banned 59 Chinese apps in the country, according to a correspondence seen by the Reuters news agency.

In a letter to the Indian government dated June 28 and seen by Reuters on Friday, TikTok Chief Executive Kevin Mayer said the Chinese government has never requested user data, nor would the company turn it over if asked.

TikTok, which is not available in China, is owned by China's ByteDance but has sought to distance itself from its Chinese roots to appeal to a global audience.

Along with 58 other Chinese apps, including Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's UC Browser, it was banned in India this week following a border clash with China.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.republicworld.com/techn...untry-does-the-app-like-tiktok-come-from.html
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide....in-india-following-tiktoks-ban-in-the-market/
In this report some of Tik Tok's Indian Users have moved to Thriller app one of Tik Tok's competitors.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...media-apps-including-tiktok-fox-idUSKBN2480DF

Update the USA is talking about banning Tik Tok. That is more questionable though and all that does it make Tik Tok Publicity go up though.

(Reuters) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the United States is “certainly looking at” banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok, suggesting it shared information with the Chinese government, a charge it denied.

“I don’t want to get out in front of the President (Donald Trump), but it’s something we’re looking at,” Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News.

U.S. lawmakers have raised national security concerns over TikTok’s handling of user data, saying they were worried about Chinese laws requiring domestic companies “to support and cooperate with intelligence work controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.”

Pompeo said Americans should be cautious in using the short-form video app owned by China-based ByteDance.

“Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party,” Pompeo remarked when asked if he would recommend people to download TikTok.

In response to his comments, TikTok told Reuters it has never provided user data to China.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/08/tech/instagram-reels-india-tiktok-ban/index.html

New York (CNN Business)TikTok has had a difficult week, to say the least — and rival Instagram just made it much harder.

India, which has the most TikTok downloads outside of China, announced late last week that it would ban the popular video-sharing platform and several other Chinese apps, saying they pose a "threat to sovereignty and integrity." And the United States, the third-largest TikTok market, may follow India's lead.
Now, Instagram is hoping to fill India's TikTok-size void with its own video-sharing feature called Reels. Facebook (FB), Instagram's parent company, said it would begin testing Reels in India on Wednesday.