TikTok

Released in September 2016, TikTok is a popular social media app for iOS and Android devices. It primarily features videos under 15 seconds that are created when users add visuals to a preselected audio track from a library of songs and community-created audio snippets. Users can also create a "duet" response to videos they've viewed. These features allow users to collaborate, making videos based on the same original concept.

TikTok gained new features and users from Musical.ly, a similar app that ByteDance acquired on August 2, 2018, and then merged into TikTok. Because of its vast user base and focus on short-form content, many consider TikTok a successor to the discontinued app Vine.

The TikTok app is free from the Apple App Store or the Google Play store.

Is TikTok a threat to national security?

Several times, the U.S. government has mentioned that TikTok is a threat to national security and, as mentioned earlier, even banned it from government devices. For those with sensitive government jobs, TikTok and all social media network platforms (Facebook, YouTube, etc.) can pose a security risk because they track users and their locations. However, all social media platforms and some websites can track users, so why is TikTok and not Facebook a risk? Some say it's a risk because the collected data is stored and controlled by companies outside the United States, and the Chinese government can access that data. However, the same could be said about Facebook and other social media companies run in the United States.

TikTok is as much a threat to a country's national security as all social media platforms, many apps, and some websites and services. If a government or anyone else is seriously concerned about being tracked, no social media service should be allowed or used.

App, Internet terms, NPC trend, Sound terms, Streamer, Vine, YouTube Shorts