When it comes to information warfare, there is not a country on this planet that does it quite like China. Never has there been a country so deliberate and brazen about their intentions that they would write it out in a doctrine for all to see. The underpinnings of so many companies exist on the intersection of national pride and an oppressive regime dictating their every move with an iron fist. One such company is ByteDance, the Chinese producer of the social media application TikTok. TikTok has approximately 80 million monthly active users in the United States. The amount of data that is available to TikTok, and the Chinese National Government is staggering, making TikTok a National Security concern for the United States. Independent security researchers are reaching the same conclusion as the United States Government: TikTok should be banned from the United States. In private evaluations of security and privacy, researchers have warned that TikTok is very similar to an always-on recording device, with the potential for keystroke logging and data exfiltration from other applications. Looking at China’s foreign policy towards the United States, its information warfare philosophy, and the lack of technical controls or oversight on the device, TikTok is a time bomb on one’s phone or tablet. In addition to the technical risks of the application, a major controversy with TikTok is in the content that is delivered to its user community. Many experts warn that TikTok can be used to spread disinformation and/or seed division in our country. Others have a more sinister outlook going so far as to state that China can meddle in our Democratic elections. With nobody dedicated to fact checking, and influencers being mistaken as experts, one can easily see the risks of getting “educated” on TikTok. While bite-sized videos can provide adrenaline and dopamine, other platforms exist that do not undermine the privacy of your personal data or lead you down a carefully orchestrated path of disinformation.
