Talk:TikTok

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by JeffreyLoeber (talk | contribs) at 07:32, 31 August 2023 (Restored revision 1172890223 by Amigao (talk): Content not relevant to article). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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Wiki Education assignment: Research Process and Methodology - RPM SP 2022 - MASY1-GC 1260 200 Thu

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 27 February 2022 and 5 May 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Tracy77tt (article contribs).

Trying this again

The following news, from months to years ago, should be added but was blocked by an editor. Let's start with a few paragraphs with more to come; refer to the discussion at notice board for more. CurryCity (talk) 04:46, 2 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

A1 (add under United States ban): In January 2020, the United States Army and Navy banned TikTok on government devices after the Defense Department pegged it as a security risk. Before the policy change, army recruiters had been using the platform to attract young people. Unofficial promotional videos continue to be posted on TikTok under personal accounts, drawing the ire of government officials, but they have also helped increase the number of enlistees; several accounts have millions of views and followers.[1][2][3]

A2 (add under United States ban): Attempts to ban TikTok have also raised the question of whether protectionism of its own corporations, rather than privacy concerns, is the primary motivation of the US Government. The types of data collected by TikTok are also collected by other social media platforms and available through brokers, often without oversight.[4] An analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies writes that it would make more sense to focus on the protection of data directly rather than on any particular platform.[5]

A3 (add under Content censorship and moderation replacing the final paragraph of that section): Following increased scrutiny, TikTok is granting some outside experts access to the platform's anonymized data sets and protocols, including filters, keywords, criteria for heating, and source code.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ Howe, Elizabeth (16 November 2021). "Army Recruiters on TikTok Dance Around Ban To Reach Gen Z". Defense One.
  2. ^ Kelly, Makena (14 December 2021). "The Army is in hot water over TikTok recruiting activity". The Verge.
  3. ^ Sung, Morgan (25 January 2022). "TikTok-famous 'Island Boys' promote Army recruitment in Cameo". NBC News.
  4. ^ Hale, Erin. "US says China can spy with TikTok. It spies on world with Google". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2023-05-22.
  5. ^ Chin, Caitlin (6 October 2022). "U.S. Digital Privacy Troubles Do Not Start or End with TikTok".
  6. ^ Roth, Emma (2022-07-27). "TikTok to provide researchers with more transparency as damaging reports mount". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  7. ^ Ghaffary, Shirin (2023-02-03). "Behind the scenes at TikTok as it campaigns to change Americans' hearts and minds". The Verge.
Those generally look like reasonable changes to me. I would suggest rephrasing A3 to something like "TikTok announced that it would grant some outside experts..." to better reflect the sources, which seem to report this step with qualifications like "TikTok said" rather than as a fact. —Mx. Granger (talk · contribs) 22:55, 2 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I put that in with my edit. CurryCity (talk) 18:59, 4 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

B1 (reword in Expansion in other markets) TikTok was the first non-Facebook app to reach that figure, despite Instagram spending millions on Reels as a rival product.[1]

B2 (add to United States ban) Security experts interviewed by CNN said that speculations of threats to the United States still lack clear evidence. Some of TikTok's practices, although deplorable, are commonplace in the industry. Instead, the protection of private user data across all platforms and national boundaries should be the priority.[2]

B3 (add to Content censorship and moderation) A March 2021 study by the Citizen Lab found that TikTok did not censor searches politically but was inconclusive about whether posts are.[3][4] A 2023 paper by the Internet Governance Project at Georgia Institute of Technology found no pro-China censorship on TikTok.[5]

B4 (remove from User privacy concerns cannot find RS) Web developers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk said that allowing videos and other content to be shared by the app's users through HTTP puts the users' data privacy at risk.[6]

References

  1. ^ Sato, Mia (2022-09-12). "Instagram knows it has a Reels problem".
  2. ^ Fung, Brian (21 March 2023). "Lawmakers say TikTok is a national security threat, but evidence remains unclear".
  3. ^ Lin, Pellaeon (22 March 2021). "TikTok vs Douyin: A Security and Privacy Analysis". Citizen Lab. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  4. ^ "TikTok and Douyin Explained". The Citizen Lab. 22 March 2021.
  5. ^ Mueller, Miller; Farhat, Karim. "TikTok and US national security" (PDF). Internet Governance Project.
  6. ^ "Army joins Navy in banning TikTok". SC Media. 3 January 2020. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
B1 seems accurate but confusing as Instagram is also owned by Facebook's parent company (in the article's terminology, it is a Facebook app). Instead of this suggested change, maybe add a sentence saying something like "Despite Instagram spending millions on Reels as a rival product, Reels' viewership remained less than one tenth of TikTok's as of 2022."
I think B2 has NPOV problems. We can't label TikTok's practices as deplorable in wikivoice. I would suggest just removing the phrase "although deplorable", but if leaving it in, it needs to be clearly attributed as someone's opinion. I think the claim about what "should be the priority" should also be attributed in-text.
No objections to B3 and B4. —Mx. Granger (talk · contribs) 00:25, 5 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Instead of B1, I may expand a section (TBD) that compares TikTok with its competitors. For B2, after going through its source, only the following is new or different from what we already have: CNN said that TikTok's efforts to find leaks to the press may be deplorable but are hardly uncommon for public organisations. A researcher at the Citizen Lab believes governments around the world should better protect user information from being exploited by Big Tech in general, not focus on just one app without good evidence. CurryCity (talk) 19:38, 6 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Seems fine to me. —Mx. Granger (talk · contribs) 14:06, 7 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

C1 (reword Heating with more information) In January 2023, Forbes reported that a "heating" tool allows TikTok to manually promote certain videos, comprising 1-2% of daily views. The practice began as a way to grow and diversify content and influencers that were not automatically picked up by the recommendation algorithm. It was also used to promote brands, artists, and NGOs being courted by the company. However, some employees have abused it to promote their own accounts or those of their spouses, while others have felt that their guidelines leave too much room for discretion. TikTok said only a few individuals can approve heating in the U.S. and the promoted videos take up less than 0.002% of user feeds. To address concerns of Chinese influence, the company is negotiating with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States such that future heating could only be performed by vetted security personnel in the U.S. and the process would be audited by third-parties such as Oracle.[1]

C2 (reword paragraph under Addiction and mental health concerns with more information) Since 2021, it has been reported that accounts engaging with contents related to suicide, self-harm, or eating disorder were fed similar videos. Some users were able to circumvent TikTok filters by writing in code or using unconventional spelling. The company has faced multiple lawsuits pertaining to wrongful deaths. TikTok said it is working to break up these "rabbit holes" of similar recommendations. US searches for eating disorder receive a prompt that offers mental health resources.[2][3][4]

C3 (remove quote under User privacy concerns undue coverage) and stating "I look at that app as so fundamentally parasitic, that it's always listening, the fingerprinting technology they use is truly terrifying, and I could not bring myself to install an app like that on my phone."[5][6]

C4 (condense under one heading UK Information Commissioner's Office investigation) In February 2019, the United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office launched an investigation of TikTok following the fine ByteDance received from the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said that the investigation focuses on the issues of private data collection, the kind of videos collected and shared by children online, as well as the platform's open messaging system which allows any adult to message any child. She noted that the company was potentially violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which requires the company to provide different services and different protections for children.[7]

C5 (condense under one heading Journalist spying scandal) In June 2022, BuzzFeed News reported that leaked audio recordings of internal TikTok meetings reveal employees in China had access to overseas data, including a "master admin" who could see "everything". Some of the recordings were made during consultations with Booz Allen Hamilton, a US government contractor. A spokesperson of the contractor said some of the report's information was inaccurate but would neither confirm nor deny whether TikTok was one of its clients.[8] Following the reports, TikTok confirmed that employees in China could have access to U.S. data.[9] It also announced that US user traffic would now be routed through Oracle Cloud and that backup copies would be deleted from other servers.[10]

In October 2022, Forbes reported that a team at ByteDance planned to surveil certain US citizens for undisclosed reasons. TikTok said that the tracking method suggested by the report would not be feasible because precise GPS information is not collected by the platform.[11][12] In December 2022, ByteDance confirmed after internal investigation that the data of several journalists had been accessed by its employees from China and the United States on an "audit" team. Their intention was to uncover sources of leaks who might have met with journalists from BuzzFeed, Forbes, and the Financial Times. The data accessed included IP addresses, which can be used to approximate a user's location. Four employees have been terminated, including the audit team's lead Chris Lepitak and his superior, executive Song Ye. ByteDance and TikTok condemned the individuals' misuse of authority.[13] The incident is being investigated by the US Department of Justice.[14]

References

  1. ^ Emily Baker-White (Jan 20, 2023). "TikTok's Secret 'Heating' Button Can Make Anyone Go Viral". Forbes.
  2. ^ Carville, Olivia (2023-04-20). "TikTok's Algorithm Keeps Pushing Suicide to Vulnerable Kids". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  3. ^ Klepper, David. "TikTok promotes posts about eating disorders and suicide, report shows". Global News. The Associated Press. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  4. ^ Roth, Emma. "WSJ's deep dive into eating disorder rabbit holes on TikTok explains a sudden policy change". The Verge. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  5. ^ Hamilton, Isobel Asher (27 February 2020). "Reddit's CEO described TikTok as 'parasitic' and 'spyware'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  6. ^ Matney, Lucas (27 February 2020). "Reddit CEO: TikTok is 'fundamentally parasitic'". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 24 April 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  7. ^ Hern, Alex (2 July 2019). "TikTok under investigation over child data use". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  8. ^ "Leaked Audio From 80 Internal TikTok Meetings Shows That US User Data Has Been Repeatedly Accessed From China". BuzzFeed News. 17 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  9. ^ Vanian, Jonathan (1 July 2022). "TikTok tells U.S. lawmakers it's working to stop user data from being accessible to Chinese employees". CNBC.
  10. ^ "TikTok and Oracle teamed up after all, but concerns about data privacy remain". The Verge. June 19, 2022.
  11. ^ "TikTok denies it could be used to track US citizens". BBC News. 21 October 2022.
  12. ^ "TikTok Parent ByteDance Planned To Use TikTok To Monitor The Physical Location Of Specific American Citizens". Forbes. 21 October 2022.
  13. ^ Duffy, Clare (2022-12-22). "TikTok confirms that journalists' data was accessed by employees of its parent company | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 2022-12-23.
  14. ^ Brodkin, Jon (17 March 2023). "US investigates TikTok owner ByteDance's surveillance of journalists".
No objections from me. —Mx. Granger (talk · contribs) 14:06, 7 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

D1 (condense into new section "Project Texas" under United States ban) TikTok has been working to silo privileged user data within the United States under oversight from the US government or a third party such as Oracle.[1] Named Project Texas, the details are being negotiated with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and focus on unauthorised access, state influence, and software security. A new subsidiary, TikTok U.S. Data Security Inc. (USDS), was created to manage user data, software code, back-end systems, and content moderation. It would report to CFIUS, not ByteDance or TikTok, even for hiring pratices. Oracle would review and spot check the data flows through USDS. It would also digitally sign software code, approve updates, and oversee content moderation and recommendation. Physical locations would be established so that Oracle and the US government could conduct their own reviews.[2]

In March 2023, a former employee of the company said Project Texas did not go far enough and that a complete "re-engineering" would be needed. TikTok responded by saying that Project Texas already is a re-engineering of the app and that the former employee left in 2022 before the project specifications were finalised.[3]

References

  1. ^ Fung, Brian (21 March 2023). "Lawmakers say TikTok is a national security threat, but evidence remains unclear".
  2. ^ Perault, Matt; Sacks, Samm (2023-01-26). "Project Texas: The Details of TikTok's Plan to Remain Operational in the United States". Lawfare.
  3. ^ DeGeurin, Mack (11 March 2023). "TikTok Whistleblower Tells Congress Data Protections Don't Stop Chinese Access". Gizmodo. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
Looks reasonable to me. —Mx. Granger (talk · contribs) 13:59, 14 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
For the number of languages offered by TikTok, would the Apple App store be a reliable source? CurryCity (talk) 09:13, 17 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I think so – seems like an appropriate use of a primary source. —Mx. Granger (talk · contribs) 02:42, 18 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

E1 (add to User privacy concerns) A March 2021 study by the Citizen Lab found that TikTok did not collect data beyond the industry norms, what its policy stated, or without additional user permission.[1]

E2 (new section under User privacy concerns after Europe) TikTok says it is holding discussions with UK's National Cyber Security Centre about Project Clover, a plan to store European information locally. A third party will be monitoring its servers' data flow. The company will add a second data centre to its existing one in Ireland as well as a third in Norway.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ "TikTok and Douyin Explained". The Citizen Lab. 22 March 2021.
  2. ^ Woo, Stu (6 March 2023). "TikTok Rolls Out 'Project Clover' to Assure Europeans on Data". The Wall Street Journal.
  3. ^ Vallance, Christ (8 March 2023). "TikTok launches Project Clover to allay China security fears". BBC.
Overall these look fine, but I'm not sure I see support in the sources for "its existing one in Ireland". The BBC source seems to be saying that the first data center in Ireland was already announced but not that it already exists. Maybe rephrase as "The company has announced plans for two data centres in Ireland as well as a third in Norway." —Mx. Granger (talk · contribs) 21:05, 30 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
You are right about the announcement versus existing. CurryCity (talk) 05:51, 1 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
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