TikTok is a popular video-sharing social networking service used to create short video content. It was first launched in China in 2016, and available worldwide for iOS and Android in 2017. In 2018, TikTok merged with another video sharing platform Musical.ly, resulting in its massive growth in the United States. TikTok was the most downloaded app on the App Store, available in over 150 markets and in 75 languages with over billion users.

As may vary between jurisdictions globally, overall the tech company ByteDance owned and developed the TikTok application. It was founded by Chinese entrepreneur Zhang Yiming in 2012. ByteDance is valued at US$75 billion, making it the most valuable startup in the world.

ByteDance's first app, Neihan Duanzi, was shut down in 2018 by the National Radio and Television Administration of China. The company subsequently issued an apology, which stated that the app was "incommensurate with socialist core values" and that they would further deepen cooperation with the Communist Party.

TikTok mobile app allows users to create short video content and share it with others on the platform. It has proven to attract the younger audience, particularly, Generation Z. TikTok has also started many viral trends and popular challenges on the internet.

TikTok’s algorithm employs Artificial Intelligence (AI) that processes the user’s preference based on their activity on the app: what they liked, interacted with, or searched. TikTok app uses this data to curate hyper-personalized feed which provides the content that keeps the user engaged as long as possible.

Privacy concerns have been brought up against TikTok, especially during COVID-19 lockdown time where many people have turned to this video-sharing app for entertainment. Recently, however, it was revealed that TikTok has been spying on millions of iPhone users. It gathered important data from users such as IP address, mobile carrier, unique device identifier, keystroke patterns, location data, and much more.

A recent iOS 14 updates exposed the fact that TikTok has been secretly accessing its user’s clipboard. This is extremely problematic because the app can see anything that iOS users enter/copy on to their devices’ clipboard which is usually important/sensitive information or even passwords. There is no way to tell what TikTok might be doing with this data. It is likely that they shared it with third parties to sell targeted ads without the users’ knowledge or consent.

There’s also a flaw in which hackers have been able to access user accounts. This vulnerability could have let attackers manipulate content and extract personal data. Another flaw was discovered that left personal information from user accounts largely exposed.

TikTok was accused of allowing the Chinese government to collect its users’ data. Its mother company, ByteDance, was believed to be monitored by Beijing due to the past allegations previously mentioned. Allegedly, TikTok app contains surveillance software that illegally harvests large amounts of personally identifiable user data and sends it to servers located in China.

TikTok also actively censors content that mentioned topics undesirable to the Communist Party of China and complies convincingly to its effort to control media and to push its propaganda to the global stages.

The fact that your personal data falls in the hand of a foreign government is not desirable. They can use this data to help their foreign policy agenda to manipulate public opinion and spread false information globally. Examples of this type of behavior include the allegations regarding the Brexit referendum and elections in the United Kingdom, as well as the 2017 United States elections.

Due to these concerns, many government agencies, as well as essential private companies such as Wells Fargo and Amazon have banned, or are considering banning the use of the TikTok app.

The nature of TikTok app is especially attractive to children and young adults. The company has been under scrutiny for illegally harvested personal information from minors and failing to direct children under 13 to obtain parental consent prior to collecting their personal data, as per the requirement of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). TikTok and its mother company repeatedly have been warned and fined for involving minors in its marketing schemes and putting millions of underage children at risk from sexual predators.

As early as 2019, the company agreed to erase all related personal information it has collected from minors and to obtain parental permission in the future. They failed to do so. TikTok has continued to use content obtained from minors and to encourage young users to falsify their age, due to its overriding and continued lack of adequate age verification policies and safeguards.

After being caught stealing data from Apple users, TikTok blamed it on faulty software development issues. Meanwhile, they have been forced to fix this issue; the latest iOS will not allow apps to access the user’s clipboard anymore. But there is nothing being done to protect Android users or to inform its users of past infractions.

To dismiss concerns, ByteDance recently appointed a new CEO for TikTok, an American executive who is now working out of TikTok’s Los Angeles offices. TikTok has denied sending user data to China and claims that its US data centers are located within the United States. However, experts remain concerned about the Chinese Communist Party’s national and cybersecurity laws, which in short require Chinese companies to continuously and fully cooperate with government intelligence work.

Even after several million-dollar worths of lawsuits regarding its privacy issues, TikTok continues to violate settlement terms and federal compliance directives. The company states that it will welcome outside experts to investigate their transparency. To date, however, there actually has been no follow up to such pledges.

Many government bodies around the world are concerned about TikTok as a national security threat. The United States and the Australian government are currently reviewing a nationwide TikTok ban. Meanwhile, the Indian government has already prohibited the use of the TikTok app in their country.

European countries, including The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as South Korea have launched their own investigations over child data use. In June 2020, the European Data Protection Board announced that it would assemble a task force to examine TikTok’s privacy and security practices.

In order to act on your behalf regarding claim compensation, or investigate what in fact has happened to your data with TikTok, you are required to be registered with SOMI. As we work on “No-Cure No-Pay” basis, you only have to pay SOMI when our actions bring you money. For our efforts, you may choose to pay us, in the event of success only, either €50,-, or, alternatively, 20% of the compensation of the damage to be awarded to you.