TikTok Under Scrutiny
This isn’t the first time TikTok is suspected of mismanaging user data. In 2020 and 2021, TikTok came under fire over data breaches that exposed millions of users. In addition, the UK has sued TikTok for illegally collecting data from children, while India banned the app completely over security concerns. In the US, the Trump administration tried to break TikTok away from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The plan was for Oracle or Microsoft to buy at least part of the company to block the Chinese from accessing the data. That initiative never came to fruition, but a modified version of it seems to be underway. TikTok remains under constant fire for ignoring privacy laws and for questionable data gathering practices. The FCC commissioner urged Google and Apple to ban TikTok from their platforms due to the reports that show Beijing might have access to the app’s user data. TikTok’s shift to Oracle’s Cloud Infrastructure might be too little and too late.TikTok Makes a Deal with Oracle
TikTok announced that it has been cooperating with Oracle for over a year to reroute US traffic to Oracle’s cloud infrastructure. The move will supposedly lock China out from gaining information on American users. However, there’s a caveat. TikTok also said:We still use our U.S. and Singapore data centers for backup, but as we continue our work we expect to delete U.S. users’ private data from our own data centers and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the U.S.TikTok still hasn’t confirmed when it will make the full switch to Oracle’s servers. It’s also unclear how secure and private the user data backups are until the two companies process the migration. TikTok only added:
These are critical steps, but there is more we can do. We know we are among the most scrutinized platforms from a security standpoint, and we aim to remove any doubt about the security of US user data.Despite these assurances and the deal with Oracle, you shouldn’t give up your data freely to any company. Protect your digital privacy and prevent companies from trading your data.
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