Understanding the Terms and Conditions

At the peak of the digital age, TikTok has outsmarted any other social media platform by becoming the fastest-growing app today. With this high increase in users in the last four years, they now possess a huge database containing most of the globe’s information. The quick rise of TikTok lies in its algorithm and its quick analysis of the user's likes and dislikes, making the app by far the most addicting social media platform ever known. Fascinated by its popularity, people have started to dig deeper to understand the way the app operates. Some would argue that TikTok, like many other social media platforms, disguises itself as a ploy for self-expression, community building, and stardom (Sharabati, Al-Haddad, Al-Khasawneh, Nababteh, Mohammad, Ghoush, 2022).  In this essay, I will be highlighting the importance of understanding what terms and conditions we are accepting when we download these apps. How do we ensure we are protecting our data in a hyper-surveilled world?

TikTok has become a global phenomenon with omnipotent power. The app is speculated to be vulnerable to political obstruction, placing its user's data in a dangerous limbo. Thus, many scholars and governments believe that social media apps, TikTok included, have become the biggest cyber threat to our society (Faison, 2021). More than any other social media platform, TikTok compromises global privacy and security and is known for having a negative impact on its users psychologically because of its poor regulation and moderation (Simarjeet Kaur, Kamaljeet Kaur, Aprajita, Verma, Pangkaj, 2022). While restrictions on the app continue to evolve and change, the app's intrusive nature cannot. Our only duty as users of this technology are to educate ourselves and find the right measures to prevent our data from roaming around freely and possibly landing in the wrong hands.

In September 2016, the tech giant ByteDance, arguably the most valuable startup company today, launched “Douyin” which was marketed as a social networking and content creation app. Later in 2017, ByteDance acquired Musical.ly, an app known for its 15-second lip-sync videos, and used its database and format to create a platform with familiar features under its new, infamous name–Tiktok. The quick rise of TikTok can be attributed to its recommendation algorithms and their ability to quickly analyze the user's likes and dislikes, making the app by far the most addicting social media platform ever created (Zhao, 2021). 

Fascinated by its popularity and success, people have started to look deeper into the way the app operates. TikTok hides its danger behind its mission statement, “To inspire creativity and bring joy” (TikTok, 2016). Social media is, by far, the most accurate and smartest marketing tool today. We recognize this business by observing the patterns of data tracking and ad targeting in the past years with some of our most beloved apps, like Facebook. However, users tend to forget the role they play in their business when scrolling through their “FYPs.” Firstly, it is important to understand that TikTok makes most of its profit from its advertisement placement in videos. Content creators can also buy flow in order for their videos to be recommended to more people on the app. This is the appeal of the app itself, as it promotes the possibility of becoming known or “famous” through the platform. 

By targeting customers through big data, advertising costs for businesses are greatly reduced, and there is a more precise catering of products to audiences most susceptible or interested in consuming them. However, there are ethical concerns regarding the use of big data in advertising. This is because users have no autonomy or say on what’s being showcased to them based on information they are most likely not aware has been stored.  Contrary to traditional industries that produce physical goods, TikTok relies on the internet and sells electronic products for a large portion of its profit (Liang, 2021). Because the app profits from this advertising, its most significant priority is to maintain its user engagement. Studies show these apps are optimized not to provide accuracy but to maximize user attention spent on the site.

 Prioritizing their business, the app tends to overlook things like misinformation, violence, and discrimination. The repercussions of this “datafication” through the use of computational power to capture, collect, store, and process data have negative side effects on our society as a whole. While big data analytics can provide valuable insights and improve decision-making processes, it also has the potential to perpetuate and amplify societal inequalities. Algorithms like the one TikTok has, are known for storing good and factual data but also for consuming misinformation and behavior patterns that promote inequality, racism, and marginalization. (Gumbus, Grodzinsky, 2015).

This is what makes the algorithm people's main focus when studying the app. TikTok has publicly shared a broad outline of the way it operates: likes, comments, shares, captions, sounds, and hashtags are just a few things that the algorithm evaluates. Yet, arguably one of the most essential things the algorithm analyzes is how much time you spend on videos (Zhang, Liu, 2021). Every video you watch steers you into what people popularly like to call the different “sides” of TikTok. The algorithm makes the user addicted by studying what they like and sending an infinite stream of videos related in return. With each video, TikTok can figure out the user’s sexuality, music taste, and even determine if the user is depressed. This kind of sensitive information can be used to micro-target users into becoming more dependent on the app. Innocent apps like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram now, “know far more about you than the most intrusive government has ever known about its citizens” (Lanchester, 10).

Concerns over data privacy have continued to mount over the years amidst the prevalence of social media apps. In 2019, TikTok agreed to pay $5.9 million to settle FTC allegations about the collection and storing of the personal data of minors that frequented the app (Roth, 2021). These allegations prompted countries like India and Bangladesh to ban TikTok and identify it as “a threat to the privacy of its citizens.” In fact, in August 2020, former-president Trump issued an order to ban TikTok in the U.S. that read: “TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories.” The order claimed that TikTok had the means to track government officials and employees while potentially using the data as blackmail. (Zulkifli, 2022). The order was later revoked by President Joe Biden, but he did have some of his concerns for which he assigned the US commerce department to work with other agencies to protect the data of people in the United States. 

These concerns continue in several countries, for example, in Ireland, investigations are being conducted to look into the potential transfer of TikTok’s data to China. The UK also expressed concerns about data security risks linked to the app which caused the parliament to shut down its account. TikTok collects more data today than any other social media app. Google is the next big company collecting this amount of data, but the difference between them is transparency and the use of such information for optimization rather than profit. (Zulkifli, 2022). Nevertheless, as we all know, mass surveillance is not new. Author and scholar, Shoshana Zuboff, has long warned people about social media’s surveillance and its menacing evolution and influence in capitalism. This digital age where our social networking apps own us is “a titanic struggle between capital and each one of us. It is a direct intervention into free will, an assault on human autonomy” (Zuboff, 2019).

Zuboff introduces the idea of “behavioral modification” as it describes the modern, mass monetization of individuals' raw personal data to predict and modify their behavior. She argues that it is this modification that is unethical as it is used to target users with advertisements. People oversee this because social media feels rewarding and some even enjoy being offered ads and personalized content (Alalwan, 2018). Some users fail to recognize targeted advertisements and algorithms as a loss of autonomy and commodification. The counterargument to this debate is that this technology seeks to “empower the individual, enhance personal freedom, and radically reduce the power of the nation-state” (Barbrook, Cameron, 1996). But this argument is void, as this technology has evolved and fails to be regulated.

TikTok’s moderators have access to information its users post privately, videos under the “friends only” and “only me” sections, and direct messages. This unlimited access to users' data sets TikTok apart from other apps that are now offering end-to-end encryption on messages like, Signal and Whatsapp. Criticism of TikTok’s big data collection is based on fear of data brokers selling and third parties acquiring people’s personal data. It is an ethical concern that the data being collected by the algorithm created by “designers and developers that are fully aware the algorithms they code and employ are contributing to the breakdown of societal stability and democracy across the globe (Mahaffey, 2021). ByteDance is believed to be under obligation by Chinese law to share information with its government. Skepticism around TikTok is due to the Chinese Communist Party’s strict surveillance model, its aggressive approach to controlling its population, and its belief in global dominance (Koleson, 2020).

People have always been surveilled by governments, but social media has only made this task easier. Documents obtained by The Intercept show that intelligence-gathering by the federal government has employed open-source information, such as social media, to profile and keep track of activists and protests. (Wolfsfeld, Segev, Sheafer, 2013). There's a common misconception that the data acquired from the platform's users is freely given away. However, this is hardly the case when companies are collecting information users don’t exactly consider valuable or a violation of one’s privacy. 

Though previously posed as an individual privacy issue, social media has become increasingly concerning as we relate it to monopoly power. TikTok's past acquisition of other social media platforms raises the question of the potential monopolization within the social media industry (Wu, Wang, Chen, 2022). Big data influences the way society works at large, it enables issues related to monopoly power. Therefore, this becomes not just a personal issue regarding privacy but a structural one. It is important to think of ways in which we limit the kinds of data that they collect, attempting to reduce the risk of arbitrary and biased technological power. TikTok has, since, denied the claims that they share or sell data to any third party. Most people are not heavily concerned about their collection of data but fear the potential use of the platform as a political weapon. However, the general public should not fear China’s potential intervention of TikTok and its data. Regardless of the role China plays, no law or regulation exists that prevents Beijing from buying its data on the open data broker market. Even if TikTok were American-owned, the issue is that of regulations for this emerging technology (Richards, 2021).

In 2020, after the US ordered to ban TikToK, this led to a big discussion about freedom of speech. People seem more concerned about being censored than the violation of their privacy, failing to acknowledge the already existing censorship inside TikTok and other social media apps, like Twitter. Speech is constantly moderated, some voices are silenced while others are amplified, TikTok allegedly censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive, like the protests in Hong Kong and China’s abhorrent treatment of the Muslim minority populations (Koleson, 2020). Although younger generations are certainly taking advantage of social media to facilitate activism, the effectiveness of these actions is not explicit and its limitations are visible (Teruelle, 2012).TikTok not only regulates speech but has the ability to “shadowban” and delete accounts as it continues to collect its data. The app uses shadowbanning and algorithmic oppression to silence marginalized groups of creators. This is the biggest danger related to these databases consuming all kinds of data including biased and wrong information. (Rauchberg, 2022). TikTok participates in the misinformation epidemic and promotes corruption. The app focuses so much on generating content that will keep the users engaged, it fails to acknowledge or moderate the issue of misinformation (Bhargava, MacDonald, Newton, Lin, Pennycook, 2023).

Knowing the effects that social media can have on its user's privacy and safety, some precautions can be actioned to promote the safe use of these apps. Through the effective utilization of privacy settings, careful evaluation of third-party applications, mindful sharing of personal information, and the application of critical thinking, users can confidently navigate social media platforms such as TikTok while ensuring the protection of their data and safeguarding their privacy (Beddoe, Cooner, 2023). These strategies provide users with the tools to take charge of their online presence, creating a safer and more secure digital environment (By actively customizing privacy settings, users have the ability to control who can access their content and limit its visibility. Thoroughly scrutinizing third-party applications before granting access to personal accounts helps users avoid potential risks associated with unauthorized data access or breaches. Adopting a critical mindset allows users to discern the legitimacy and credibility of content encountered on these platforms, protecting against scams, phishing attempts, and social engineering tactics that could compromise personal data. 

On a larger scale, there are measures people in courtrooms and positions of power in big tech can action. “In the same way, that Amazon disrupted e-commerce through its inventory and sales algorithms and TikTok’s progressive recommendation system keeps users hooked, computational antitrust holds the promise to revolutionize antitrust law” (Lim, 2021). Antitrust is a new branch of law that seems to gain more momentum as conversations regarding AI and apps like TikTok continue. This generation will never fully recover its autonomy, ceding its data under the illusion of benefit and lust for platforms like TikTok. The app essentially owns its users, yet they are starting to refuse and protest against this surveillance. In an article for Logic magazine, K. Sabeel Rahman argues that “a more radical response, then, would be to impose structural restraints: limits on the structure of technology firms, their powers, and their business models, to forestall the dynamics that lead to the most troubling forms of infrastructural power in the first place.”

Understanding the terms and conditions of social media apps like TikTok is not just a formality but an essential step for safeguarding data privacy and mitigating cyber threats. In today's rapidly advancing technological landscape, users must be informed in order to protect themselves and their data in this hyper-surveilled world. When it comes to social media platforms, many users tend to overlook or quickly agree to the terms and conditions without fully comprehending their implications (Steinfeld, 2016). The terms and conditions outline the rights and permissions granted to the platform regarding the collection, storage, and usage of personal data. By understanding these terms, users gain valuable insights into how their information is handled and can make informed decisions about their privacy. 

Moreover, being informed about the potential risks and vulnerabilities associated with social media platforms can empower users to take proactive steps in protecting their data. Maintaining a balance between enjoying the benefits of social media platforms and maintaining control over personal information is of utmost importance. While these platforms offer entertainment, connection, and a means for self-expression, they also have the potential to exploit personal data for various purposes. Users should be aware of the trade-offs involved and take steps to limit the amount of personal information they share. However, the responsibility for data privacy should not rest solely on individual users. Governments and regulatory bodies also play a vital role in ensuring a safer and more transparent digital landscape. Stricter regulations and enforcement can hold social media platforms accountable for their data practices and ensure that user privacy is protected (Balkin, 2021). Additionally, fostering transparency and providing clearer terms and conditions can help users make informed decisions about their data.

In conclusion, understanding the terms and conditions of social media apps like TikTok is the first step towards safeguarding data privacy and mitigating cyber threats. With the rapid advancement of technology and the growing prevalence of surveillance, users must remain vigilant and informed. By striking a balance between enjoying the benefits of these platforms and maintaining control over personal information, individuals can contribute to a safer and more transparent digital landscape for all. Additionally, governments and regulatory bodies should continue to prioritize the development and enforcement of robust data protection measures to ensure the privacy and security of users in this ever-evolving technological era.

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