TikTok is the social networks of the moment. His exploit seems unstoppable: this year the Chinese app has already been downloaded 614 million times, especially in India, China and the United States and closely threatens Facebook and Instagram who have so far tried in vain to clone his successes.
The TikTok boom is centered on sharing videos, lasting up to 15 or 60 seconds, accompanied by music, to entertain the digital audience, whose secret weapon resides in the "weekly challenge". Challenge that consists of launching real challenges to users, such as trying on as many shoes and clothes in 15 seconds. A fun way to attract as many users as possible to the platform, especially i teenager.
However, if on the one hand the lightness that inspires this social network is appreciated, on the other TikTok worries, and not a little, for a series of hidden dangers. First of all, there is nothing under the fun: information and news about the facts of life have disappeared from the app. Alarm then in particular the target audience: the app is very successful especially among young and very young people, and being the public profile, it is possible to see the contents of the users without being registered. In this way, the likelihood of accepting "risky friendships" increases.
Among the active users most are girls, even of 6 7-years, who post provocative videos, seeking perfection by applying beauty filters to hide their flaws. Another way for the cyberbullying to manifest itself, together with the possibility of being lured by pedophiles as happened a few days ago a Modena, where a parent sued a man after reading a series of inappropriate messages sent to the son via TikTok.
Other countries have expressed concern regarding the use of TikTok by such young and easily influenced children. For example, the Indian government has decided to block the app throughout the country, as it is considered a real incitement to porn and violence.
From cyberbullying to pornography and pedophilia, the picture seems to be already complete, yet there are other accusations leveled against the Chinese platform. In fact, just under a year ago the app was accused of having collected data of minors without consent by the parents for a value of 5,7 million dollars.
But the shadows on TikTok are not only these and its Chinese ownership raises growing questions about the possible interference of the Beijing regime on the users of the most popular app of the moment.
A few weeks ago, three US senators requested an investigation into the aura of mystery surrounding the platform. The concerns stem from the takeover by the parent company ByteDance di Musical.ly, another Chinese application very popular among young people, which allowed the playback of music videos in playback. The merger of these two applications has allowed the company to surpass even its rival, Instagram.
The senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, along with Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, asked the US intelligence community in October to evaluate if TikTok poses a threat for national security, making government espionage activities. Hypothesis flatly denied by the company team, which claims to store user information on the server in the United States, but which cannot deny that it still has to comply with the Chinese law on the provision of information to the government. Such allegations had also been made against other Chinese companies, including Huawei, and it is evident that the Chinese origin of TikTok does not help dispel suspicions.
Not by chance the Republican senator Marco Rubio accused the app of censor content not in line with the Chinese government. In the letter, he said there had been questions about why he had so few video clips recent Hong Kong protests.
Senators also believe that TikTok could be a potential target of foreign influence for election campaigns, similar to Russia's attempts to undermine 2016 US election Your Facebook.
All accusations denied by ByteDance, which said it could not comment on the regulatory processes in place, but clarified that it wanted to collaborate with the US government in order not to lose the trust won by the public. Furthermore, the company insists that none of the data of American citizens has been shared with the Chinese Communist Party and that it does not operate any kind of censorship based on "China-related sensitivities".
Based on the outcome of the investigations, ByteDance could be forced to sell its assets in the United States, as happened for Grindr, another app of Chinese origin that had to give in to American pressure as it was accused of having endangered millions of sensitive data.
In short, the success of TikToK is enormous but it is also becoming a source of growing trouble.
