La Croix: Why is TikTok questioned in Europe and the United States?
– Nicolas Arpagian : Data exfiltrations to China from the social network have been noted, this shows either a security breach or third-party use of TikTok data. Then, the editorial line can be problematic: the content seeks to capture attention, is not likely to stimulate the intellect of its users who are young people. In France, for example, there are laws that regulate the nature of information addressed to young audiences such as children’s literature or the display of advertising around schools.
Is TikTok really a threat?
Social networks, including TikTok, have a policy of collecting personal data from users — the variety and depth of data are two essential aspects. Applications retrieve what is searched, browsing history, biometric identifiers – for example if you identify yourself with your face – but also location, gender, age, passwords. The smartphone is obviously a data receptacle, but there may be more sensitive data on certain professional devices such as instant messaging, emails or cryptocurrency wallets.
The various accusations of data leaks on TikTok have been proven. In 2021, the company had to pay 92 million dollars to the American justice because personal data of users had leaked to China. In 2020, during the Covid-19 crisis, a loophole was exploited to replace certain prevention videos such as those of the WHO with conspiratorial messages.
– Does the social network have a cooperation policy with the European Union? What are its limits?
N. A. : TikTok reacted to criticism from the West. In the United States, the company has entered into an agreement with the American company Oracle, specialized in database management, so that its servers are hosted in the country. In Europe, TikTok has planned to open a data center in Ireland, as well as a “transparency center” which allows journalists, politicians or associations to analyze the company’s code and facilities. However, the politics of the network is a politics of reaction. TikTok will implement self-regulatory measures only when the authorities force it to do so. This is also the case for American digital companies. The EU must ask the question of data control, impose the split between the professional and personal spheres in the digital world to limit the risk of being targeted by foreign actors. It is possible to access an individual’s hyper-personalized data through social networks, and that is the whole risk for European civil servants.
TikTok, the most addictive network
The policy of the European Union vis-à-vis TikTok has been transformed by Thierry Breton, European Commissioner in charge, among other things, of digital. Until now, European decisions were always reasoned or justified, companies tried with each new rule to circumvent it. Now the EU is no longer justified, like the United States, and this decision to ban TikTok on the professional devices of European officials has not been followed by justification. It should however be noted that the European institutions do not leave the application, they only frame its use in the professional sphere.
Can we envisage a total ban on TikTok in the EU?
N. A. : Technically and legally, it is quite possible. The application should no longer be downloadable from the stores and search engines should no longer index the download links. But the materiality of such a measure is complex. Thanks to VPNs, there is an extra-territorialization of the connection, going through different servers, we can choose in which country our IP address is located. Even the less tech-savvy among us can easily use one. There would also be a major economic aspect: we would see a transfer to other platforms from users, which is never easy, but also from advertisers. Advertising funding would decline, as would the attractiveness of the application. Moreover, such a decision would be difficult to accept by the Chinese State, which would take retaliatory measures against European companies.
The question of a ban arises in Europe as in the United States. The thinking on the American side is as follows: if the EU imposes stricter rules on personal data and terms and conditions of use to limit their manipulation, this could very well be applied to the digital giants of Silicon Valley.
It is likely in any case that the generation that will arrive will settle on a platform other than TikTok, because the use of social networks is above all generational. TikTok has influenced other social networks around the world by offering vertical videos, a new way of creating and consuming, but tomorrow a new player could well bring out another innovative format.