Anyone who has a Gen Z person in their life is probably familiar with the popular social media app TikTok, but a new bill in the US could soon push it out of the US market.
With so much singing, dancing, and lip-syncing in one app, TikTok seems innocent enough, but the app has received a lot of scrutiny recently, raising a number of security concerns, largely including its involvement with the Chinese government.
“The biggest concern is who is ultimately the owner and controller of a massive media platform where many people get their news. Having that ultimately under the control or influence of the Chinese Communist Party is a huge concern for the United States,” Beauceron Security CEO David Shipley said in an interview Thursday.
A bill signed by US President Joe Biden will require the company’s Chinese owner to sell to an American, or the app will no longer be able to operate in the huge US market.
Shipley adds that the ban has gone beyond being a simple partisan issue.
“There is a very real threat. Remember, this is the same America where we have never seen more partisanship, and from Republicans to Democrats, everyone has supported this. “That tells you that this is important and real,” Shipley added.
“What Americans are laying bare here is that what is happening with TikTok and how they are influencing the minds of our next most important generation cannot be trusted.”
Shipley says one of the government’s biggest concerns is access to TikTok information and how they can control what is seen.
“Remember that at the center of these social media platforms are the algorithms that control what you can see, when and what topics. And it is in the absolute interest of the Chinese state to have us confront each other, to have us react to things,” he said.
“It’s no coincidence that social media is at a fever pitch and we’re also seeing problems like anti-Semitism, problems like partisanship in politics, problems like a lack of faith that democracy works.”
Another concern Shipley raised is how difficult it is to regulate apps like TikTok.
“We have to take a more sophisticated route to regulation. Honestly, it was easy in the days of radio and television because we regulated the airways and we saw the natural resource that was limited like spectrum, we were able to apply really sensible regulation around media ownership, concentration, values , ethical responsibility, editorial responsibility,” Shipley said.
As to whether Canada should also take action to ban the app, Shipley said we have bigger issues between us.
“This is not a fight we should stick our noses into, per se, let the Americans lead it. But we should pay attention to it,” Shipley said.
“However, the reality is that when it comes to national security, other than staying out of the middle of it, we can’t even get our house in order on much more pressing and fundamental things like the investigation into foreign interference and the abuse of our nomination process. “If we can’t take that seriously, we are not prepared to play this game,” he stated.