While TikTok was still Musical.ly, the FTC alleges they illegally collected personal information from children. To settle these charges, TikTok has agreed to pay $5.7 million. This is the largest civil penalty the FTC has ever obtained in a children's privacy case. Video Social Networking App Musical.ly Agrees to Settle FTC Allegations That it Violated Children’s Privacy Law, Federal Trade Commission (Feb. 27, 2019), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/02/video-social-networking-app-musically-agrees-settle-ftc.
TikTok has previously hidden videos that go against Beijing orthodoxy. Specifically, it hid videos referencing Taiwan's independence or the Tiananmen Square Massacre. TikTok claims to have changed its policies on this content sometime in May. Alex Hern, TikTok owns up to censoring some users' videos to stop bullying, The Guardian (Dec. 3, 2019), https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/dec/03/tiktok-owns-up-to-censoring-some-users-videos-to-stop-bullying.
India banned TikTok over national security and data privacy concerns. Alice MJ, Why Did The Indian Government Ban Tiktok?, Dr.Fone (July 26, 2021), https://drfone.wondershare.com/unban-tiktok/tiktok-ban-in-india.html.
The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States opened a national security investigation into the acquisition of Musical.ly, which eventually became TikTok, by ByteDance Technology Co. in 2017. Greg Roumeliotis, Yingzhi Yang, Echo Wang, & Alexandra Alper, Exclusive: U.S. opens national security investigation into TikTok - sources, Reuters (Nov. 1, 2019), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tiktok-cfius-exclusive-idUSKBN1XB4IL.
In a misguided attempt to cut down on bullying, TikTok artifically suppressed the reach of videos created by those it identified as LGBTQ+, fat, and/or disabled. TikTok acknowledged what it was doing, stating it was never meant to be a permanent solution. Alex Hern, TikTok owns up to censoring some users' videos to stop bullying, The Guardian (Dec. 3, 2019), https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/dec/03/tiktok-owns-up-to-censoring-some-users-videos-to-stop-bullying.
The U.S. Navy issued a bulletin stating that TikTok must be deleted from government issued mobile devices, or else those devices would be block from the Navy's intranet.
Considering it a security threat, the United States Army has banned soldiers from using TikTok. Mathew Cox, Army Follows Pentagon Guidance, Bans Chinese-Owned TikTok App, Military.com (Dec. 30, 2019), https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/12/30/army-follows-pentagon-guidance-bans-chinese-owned-tiktok-app.html.
The Marines follow the Army's lead and ban TikTok on government phones. Ariel Zilber & Megan Sheets, Marines join Army in banning all soldiers from using TikTok over worries that Chinese-owned app poses security risk, DailyMail (Jan. 3, 2020), https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7847293/Marines-join-Army-banning-soldiers-using-TikTok-worries-securit.html.
Sometime in early January, the U.S. Air Force and Coast Guard banned TikTok over security concerns. Mary Meisenzahl, US government agencies are banning TikTok, the social media app teens are obsessed with, over cybersecurity fears — here's the full list, Business Insider (Feb. 25, 2020), https://www.businessinsider.com/us-government-agencies-have-banned-tiktok-app-2020-2?op=1.
Security Researchers at Check Point found vulnerabilities in TikTok that could allow attacked to takeover TikTok accounts. Additionally, they found that they could send a text to any phone number that looks like it's coming from TikTok. After disclosing these findings to TikTok, TikTok patched the vulnerabilities. Arjun Kharpal, A security flaw in China’s TikTok app was found. It lets hackers use text messages to control accounts, CNBC (Jan. 9, 2020), https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/09/tiktok-security-flaw-found-that-allowed-hackers-to-access-accounts.html.
In a letter from Chuck Schumer, it is seen that The Department of Homeland Security has banned TikTok over security concerns. Mary Meisenzahl, US government agencies are banning TikTok, the social media app teens are obsessed with, over cybersecurity fears — here's the full list, Business Insider (Feb. 25, 2020), https://www.businessinsider.com/us-government-agencies-have-banned-tiktok-app-2020-2?op=1.
Mary Meisenzahl, US government agencies are banning TikTok, the social media app teens are obsessed with, over cybersecurity fears — here's the full list, Business Insider (Feb. 25, 2020), https://www.businessinsider.com/us-government-agencies-have-banned-tiktok-app-2020-2?op=1.
A class action complaint was filed by the parents of an underage user for violations of Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. Ashley Cullins, TikTok Hit With Multiple Complaints Over Alleged Children’s Privacy Violations, The Hollywood Reporter (May 14, 2020), https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/tiktok-hit-multiple-complaints-alleged-childrens-privacy-violations-1294604/.
TikTok users flocked to reserve seats to a Trump Rally held in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Juneteenth with no intention of going. As a result, the rally had a lower than expected turnout. It is unclear how much of an impact TikTok users had on the turnout. Kalhan Rosenblatt, After Trump rally falls flat, TikTok teens take a victory lap for fake reservation campaign, NBC News (June 21, 2020), https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/after-trump-rally-falls-flat-tiktok-teens-take-victory-lap-n1231675.
President Donald Trump said his administration was "looking at" banning TikTok. Brian Fung, TikTok is a national security threat, US politicians say. Here's what experts think, CNN (July 9, 2020), https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/09/tech/tiktok-security-threat/index.html.
Senator Josh Hawley introduced the No TikTok on Government Devices Act. The Act was passed in the Senate, but never voted on in the House. Josh Hawley, S.3455 - No TikTok on Government Devices Act, Congress.gov, https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3455.
Vanessa Pappas, Combating misinformation and election interference on TikTok, TikTok (Aug. 5, 2020), https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/combating-misinformation-and-election-interference-on-tiktok.
President Trump signed an executive order that would ban TikTok if, after 45 days, its Chinese parent company has not sold the app. Caroline Kelly, Trump issues orders banning TikTok and WeChat from operating in 45 days if they are not sold by Chinese parent companies, CNN (Aug. 7, 2020), https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/politics/trump-executive-order-tiktok/index.html.
An online database was discovered containing information on 235 million users of various social media sites. 42 million of those records came from TikTok. 235 million TikTok, Instagram and YouTube accounts exposed in database breach, Security Magazine (Aug. 24, 2020), https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/93141-million-tiktok-instragram-and-youtube-account-exposed-in-database-breach.
Pakistan banned TikTok due to the content that was on the app. Shubham Attri, Countries That Have Banned TikTok & 6 Reasons For Its Ban, Deasilex (Aug. 23, 2021), https://deasilex.com/countries-that-have-banned-tiktok/.
Several TikTok users' videos of them trolling President Trump's voter fraud hotline went viral. They were not alone in this endeavor, as Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch was also posting videos of himself doing the same thing on Twitter. Jade Brenner, TikTok Users Troll Trump's Voter Fraud Hotline in Viral Videos, MSN (Nov. 9, 2020),https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tiktok-users-troll-trumps-voter-fraud-hotline-in-viral-videos/ar-BB1aPQro.
TikTok user @bigchoppadoe made a viral TikTok satirically showing evidence of voter fraud. Rudy Giuliani retweeted it as evidence of voter fraud. Rachel E. Greenspan, A TikTok creator says he made a fake voter fraud video that went viral and was shared by Rudy Giuliani, MSN (Nov. 10, 2020), https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/a-tiktok-creator-says-he-made-a-fake-voter-fraud-video-that-went-viral-and-was-shared-by-rudy-giuliani/ar-BB1aT8eP.
A preliminary injunction stopped President Trump's ban on TikTok. The injunction made it so it would not be illegal for infrastructure companies to carry TikTok's network traffic. Bring Fung & Jill Disis, Trump administration appeals court order blocking TikTok restrictions, CNN (Dec. 28, 2020), https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/28/tech/tiktok-federal-appeal-intl-hnk/index.html.
Bring Fung & Jill Disis, Trump administration appeals court order blocking TikTok restrictions, CNN (Dec. 28, 2020), https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/28/tech/tiktok-federal-appeal-intl-hnk/index.html.
Former children's commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, sued TikTok on behalf of all children in the UK and Europe who have used TikTok or Musical.ly since May 25, 2018. "The claim alleges that TikTok and ByteDance have violated UK and EU children's data protection law (GDPR), and deceived parents about how exposed their children's private information is when they use the app".
Security researchers at Check Point Research discover that TikTok's "Find Friends" feature bypassed users' privacy protections, potentially allowing anyone to see otherwise private data. TikTok acknowledged the bug, but stated there was no reason to believe it had been exploited by bad actors. Ryan Lovelace, Cybersecurity researchers find TikTok privacy vulnerability exposes users’ data, The Washington Times (Jan. 26, 2021), https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/26/cybersecurity-researchers-find-tiktok-privacy-vuln/.
TikTok settled a class action lawsuit against it for $92 million. The class action stemmed from violations of children's privacy law. Specifically, "The plaintiffs’ allegations included that the app doesn’t notify users that its filters and effects use facial scans that capture and store biometric data; that after a user records a video TikTok keeps a copy, even if the user never posts it, and there’s no notification that any such transfer occurs; and that the app collects private and personally identifiable information and device data for the purpose of earning revenue through targeted ads." Ashley Cullins, TikTok Consumer Privacy Class Settlement Includes $92M Payout, The Hollywood Reporter (Feb. 24, 2021), https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/tiktok-consumer-privacy-class-action-settles-4137730/.
Since the House never voted on the original Act, Senator Hawley reintroduced the Act into the Senate again. At the same time, the Act was reintroduced to the House by Rep. Ken Buck. Maggie Miller, Republican lawmakers reintroduce bill to ban TikTok on federal devices, The Hill (Apr. 15, 2021), https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/548347-republican-lawmakers-reintroduce-bill-to-ban-tiktok-on-federal-devices.
TikTok's U.S. privacy policy was updated to allow the app to "collect biometric identifiers and biometric information” such as “faceprints and voiceprints". Sarah Perez, TikTok just gave itself permission to collect biometric data on US users, including ‘faceprints and voiceprints’, TechCrunch (June 3, 2021), https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/03/tiktok-just-gave-itself-permission-to-collect-biometric-data-on-u-s-users-including-faceprints-and-voiceprints/?guccounter=1.
Despite the fact that TikTok was never banned in the U.S., President Biden revoked President Trump's executive order banning TikTok. President Biden then replaced the order with a more broad one, targeting apps linked to foreign adversaries, including China, instead of TikTok directly. Brian Fung, President Biden revokes Trump executive orders targeting TikTok and WeChat and issues fresh order, CNN (June 9, 2021), https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/09/politics/tiktok-wechat-executive-order/index.html.
Sometime in July, TikTok updated its branded content guidelines to prohibit the promotion of cryptocurrencies "unless users disclose it through a branded content opinion the app." Promotion apparently also means education, as numerous crypto-TikTokers have had their accounts suspended and videos permanently taken down repeatedly since the update. When asked for comment, TikTok would not specify what part of the guidelines the crypto-TikTokers were violating. Samantha Subin, TikTok changed its policies, now cryptocurrency influencers consider moving to rival platforms, CNBC (Aug. 25, 2021), https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/25/tiktok-policy-change-hurt-cryptocurrency-creators.html.
TikTok had filed a lawsuit challenged President Trump's TikTok ban. Since President Biden revoked that executive order in June, both TikTok and the U.S. government agreed to drop the lawsuit. Brian Fung, TikTok, Biden administration agree to drop litigation over Trump-era app store ban, CNN (July 22, 2021), https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/22/tech/tiktok-trump-ban-dismissed/index.html.
The devious licks challenge on TikTok is trending. The challenge involves school children vandalizing their school bathrooms. TikTok does their best to mitigate the challenge, removing content, and redirecting the hashtag to their guidelines that discourage criminal activity. John Hanna & Heather Hollingsworth, ‘Devious licks’ videos of damage, thefts bedevil US schools, AP News (Sep. 17, 2021),https://apnews.com/article/health-media-social-media-coronavirus-pandemic-kansas-72898662363abaae5abf70d5c7b3912e.
A supposed viral challenge, National Shoot Up Your School day, supposedly trended on TikTok. TikTok responded by stating it would take down any content on its app relating to it, but that thus far it had not managed to find any. The day ended without any schools being shot up. EJ Dickson, TikTok’s School Shooting Hoax Shows How Misinformation on the App Is Out of Control, Rolling Stone (Dec. 17, 2021), https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/tiktok-national-shoot-up-your-school-day-hoax-1275604/.
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