Presentation
At the end of June, India announced a ban on around sixty Chinese apps, rendering them unavailable on Android and Apple platforms. Among them were WeChat, UC Browser, Weibo, Clash of Kings, and, most notably, the recently launched social network TikTok, which boasts over two billion downloads since its 2017 launch.
Against the backdrop of a diplomatic conflict between India and China, recent weeks have been marked by military clashes along the Himalayan border. This decision also has significant economic consequences for the app’s publisher, the Chinese company ByteDance, which estimates that TikTok’s usage in the rapidly expanding Indian market will generate over one billion dollars in revenue this year.
For several months, the social network TikTok has been plagued by numerous scandals concerning the integrity of its application, particularly regarding the collection and processing of personal data.
TikTok: A social network moderated by irresponsible choices
Very soon after its creation, TikTok has been at the center of numerous controversies involving its editorial policies and its rules of control, even censorship.
State favoritism. In Hong Kong, the application has a bad reputation, accused of censoring pro-democracy demonstrations and the ongoing repression of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang.
Justified at the time by “errors,” the removal of the application from the Hong Kong market under the recent national security law raises new questions about the power of the social network and the potential dangers of the massive data collection it is accused of.
Censorship of minorities. In the United States, several lawsuits have been filed following the discovery of guidelines limiting the visibility of posts by disabled people, overweight users, members of the LGBTQ community, as well as “the ugly and the poor.”
TikTok defended itself on this point, citing anti-harassment measures, explaining that “If the person’s appearance or the filming environment isn’t good, the video will be much less appealing, and it’s not worth recommending to new users.”
Collection of minors’ data. In February 2019, the Federal Trade Commission fined ByteDance more than five million dollars in the United States for collecting the personal data of minors without parental consent.
Furthermore, the FTC mandated that TikTok update its service, including a ban on minors under the age of 13 posting content and ensuring all additional protections appropriate for content intended for minors.
This conviction reveals the particular attention states are paying to the protection of minors regarding their consumption of online audiovisual content. Read our article dedicated to these issues.
Other points are still under investigation, notably concerning its hosting of content linked to American far-right movements and access to profiles of pedophiles using the platform to communicate.
TikTok: Legal risks in relation to the various applicable laws: GDPR, LCEN, Copyright Directive, etc.
In addition to the various elements previously mentioned, most of which constitute criminal offenses in many countries, TikTok, as the publisher of a social network with a significant audiovisual content, is also subject to applicable legislation.
A content host. As a content host, TikTok benefits from relative protection regarding the content published on its platform. Indeed, most laws place the entire editorial responsibility for their content on the users of social networks and platforms.
Hosts can only be held liable in cases of a strong editorial policy or a lack of responsiveness to notifications of illegal content. Furthermore, they have an independent responsibility, as they must actively participate in the moderation and control of content published on their platform, particularly to protect public order and copyright, combat organized crime, terrorism, and child pornography.
Personal Data and the GDPR. Amidst the controversy surrounding the collection, use, and transfer of information by its platform, TikTok is subject to numerous sanctions under the recent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which governs all processing of personal data.
Under the supervision of European data protection authorities, such as the CNIL in France, TikTok faces penalties of up to 4% of its global revenue. Recent sanctions against companies like Google, Facebook, Uber, and Netflix suggest that TikTok cannot claim any form of immunity.
Our article on streaming platforms facing GDPR penalties.
The Google example: an exemplary sanction regarding personal data.
TikTok: Accused of data theft and information transmission to China
Like in India, suspicions of espionage surrounding the app are gradually encouraging states and private companies to ban it. In the United States, following Senator Josh Hawley’s warning in November 2019 and its subsequent ban by the US military, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated he was considering a ban on all Chinese-origin social media apps, especially TikTok, which he described as collecting “personal data for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party.”
President Donald Trump echoed this statement, presenting the TikTok ban as one of the potential reprisals following the Coronavirus outbreak.
Private initiatives. Alongside government action, several private companies have also expressed their distrust of the app and its potential collection of data from installed phones and tablets, including Wells Fargo and Amazon. The latter mistakenly asked his employees to uninstall the application before July 10th or risk losing access to their email on the affected devices.
TikTok: The audience war by any means
TikTok has emerged as a new El Dorado for many influencers eager to quickly build audiences compared to other social networks, where competition is already fierce.
Manipulation of viewing statistics. TikTok’s considerable growth and the figures presented by ByteDance have raised serious concerns about the platform’s accounting methods: views counted after just three seconds of video watched, automatic playback of related content, etc.
These statistical manipulations, artificially inflating viewing figures, regularly harm advertisers and undermine the economic stability of social networks, exacerbated by the lack of an independent body to audit the various social networks’ reports. In 2019, Facebook was sued by several advertising agencies, resulting in the social network being found guilty of overestimating the viewing time of its videos by 150% to 900%. The company was fined $36.5 million.
Advertising contracts suspended. Recent allegations regarding indirect spying by the TikTok app have prompted many advertisers and sponsors to freeze their advertising contracts, avoiding being associated with the platform’s negative image.
TikTokers in limbo. In this context, the recent decision by several countries to block access to TikTok for their citizens has caused upheaval for its community, especially professional content creators. Influencers, streamers, and other audiovisual content creators now face the considerable risk of losing their followers and, by extension, the profitability of their business. Indeed, shifting an audience from one social network to another is a particularly complex and uncertain operation.
Our specialized article on the links between YouTubers and Advertising
Growing competition. Meanwhile, the destabilization of TikTok is allowing many competitors to catch up and gain a significant number of users, with some having seen a tenfold increase in their daily subscriber count in recent days. Triller, Byte, Dubsmash, YouTube, and Instagram are all launching their own short-form video creation formats on their respective platforms.
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