TikTok, a Chinese video-sharing social networking service has risen in global prominence in recent years to a user base of more than 800 million. There are more than 40 million U.S. TikTok users. The Trump administration has declared TikToK to be national security threat. Most security analysts have found this not to be the case. Although there are some who believe that the app might be a vector for espionage and election interference. The problem posed by foreign applications is not new and in truth countries such as China and Russia have been banning U.S. social media applications for years based on national security concerns. However, it is also true that the U.S. has funded a variety of different applications designed to support Western concepts of human and political rights within these countries. Applications ranging from Tor and Tails, to applications produced under the Open Technology Fund have all sought to empower individuals in closed or repressive societies often to the great consternation of their national governments. There are several questions that need to be raised in association with the current Trump administration position on TikTok. First, in a global ecosystem of tens of thousands of applications, many of which are foreign in origin, why ban TikTok, and why now? Second, does banning technology fundamentally undermine social and political rights in the U.S. and if so how? Third, is it legal to ban TikTok and if so, what mechanisms does the Trump administration have to do so? This post will focus on answering the first two questions, while providing links to answers of the third question.
The first question as to why ban TikTok and why now is thorny and centers more on domestic political concerns than on national security issues. While it is true that TikTok has experienced its fair share of security vulnerabilities in the past, including collecting copied text from users devices, it is also true that TikTok has generally been responsive to security vulnerability claims. TikTok’s vulnerabilities in the context of mobile applications is not new, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and every other social media application has over the years and recently been challenged by security vulnerabilities. Mobile application vulnerabilities require developers and their firms to continuously test and monitor their applications and prepare for fixes when flaws are found. Nor is it entirely case that TikTok is being banned because it is a Chinese owned application. Multiple Chinese social media platforms including Sina Weibo and WeChat (which as of right before posting was added to the ban) among hundreds of others have been available in the United States for quite some time.
What is different about TikTok is that unlike most other Chinese social media platforms, it has found a broad audience in the United States. This broad audience is comprised mostly of young digitally connected groups, who have used the platform in a variety of ways ranging from general entertainment, to political and social activism. Most notably a number of TikTok users coordinated and staged a virtual sit-in which is believed to have limited the turnout at Campaign events for President Trump. Concerns about TikTok began arising late 2019. In early 2020 congressional hearings were held in which Senators were told of the potential for TikTok to collect information from users. In January 2020, the U.S. Military required the removal of TikTok from all government smartphones and encouraged its removal from personal devices. The removal of applications from government mobile devices is not new and is in line with standard network procedures for a variety of applications. Most government devices are limited to approved applications only. Nor are revelations that TikTok can collect personal information from user’s devices unique, as social media and search firms have been known to collect vast troves of personal information for more than a decade. What is different is that this is the first time an application produced and owned by nationals of what has become a “strategic adversary” has become immensely popular in the United States. This has opened up fears of information sharing between the firm and the adversarial nation’s government.
Also different is the direct political threat that a foreign owned platform posed to a sitting President. It is hard to imagine that had a virtual sit-in organized via Facebook or Twitter similar to that which occurred in Arizona, would result in the closure or banning of those applications within the U.S.. In brief, why TikTok, and why now? It is the first truly popular foreign owned social media platform in the United States and it has mobilized a group of political opponents. These two factors make it politically convenient to ban the application.
ACLU Tweets on TikTok
Does banning technology fundamentally undermine social and political rights in the U.S. and if so how?
The United States has a unique concept of free speech that extends far beyond that of most other countries. While it might seem a bit odd to consider, code, the building blocks of applications such as TikTok are actually considered under U.S. law to be free speech. Does this protection extend to applications developed outside of the United States? No. However, what complicates the challenge of determining whether TikTok is protected under 1st amendment protections is the location of its coding. Presently, some of TikTok’s development occurs in Los Angeles and New York. This would imply that at least part of TikTok is protected. The United States has also in recent months designated multiple Chinese state-run media organizations a foreign missions. Russian television station RT registered in 2017 with the Department of Justice as a “foreign agent”. Yet, while these moves were intended to define the provenance of the new and information from these outlets, they were not banned.
Just as above, in brief, the banning of a wildly popular platform violates U.S. notions of free speech in two ways. First, it undermines the notion that code itself is free speech. Second, it undermines the voices of content creators and distributors who utilize the platform for speech.
Moving forward
Decisions regarding free speech and expression should not be made lightly. They should be challenged in the courts, and debated in public. If security vulnerabilities are such that they endanger the lives, livelihoods of Americans or anyone for that matter; or if they undermine security of the nation, then the case as to how this is occurring must be made clearly and with evidence. Banning platforms, foreign or domestic, undermines the spirit of an open internet capable of facilitating free speech and expression. What is needed are laws and regulations that ensure that all social media companies provide secure and safe experiences on their platforms that accord with the laws of the nations in which those platforms are used.
Resources Explaining how a ban might work:
Trump Signs Executive Order That Will Effectively Ban Use Of TikTok In the U.S.
Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-tiktok/