Opinion / Christopher Lord
Killing time
Much of Tiktok is a predictable slew of short video lip-syncs, dubious “life hacks” and burly men telling me I ought to be more alpha. Somehow, this attracts 150 million users in the US, according to Shou Zi Chew (pictured), the firm’s CEO, who was grilled by a congressional committee in Washington yesterday. The committee is examining whether the app and its Beijing-based parent company, Bytedance, is entwined with the Chinese Communist Party. Tiktok’s future is very much in the dock: Joe Biden is mulling an outright ban or a move to force its Chinese owners to sell up; many countries are already stripping the app from government devices.
Yet the US administration’s rationale for a ban remains vague. It’s high time that it spelt out exactly what national intelligence knows about Tiktok. There are theories that passwords and intellectual property could be funnelled to China and we hear that the app is gathering vast amounts of data about Americans, though many will see that as an accepted consequence of using social media. If Tiktok is banned in the US, users need to know why. Otherwise, it plays into a narrative – professed by China and others – that the US is not quite as open as it claims to be. Banning a media outlet or technology company without explanation, especially in the current downturn for the sector, isn’t a strong look.
What struck me when I briefly perused the platform is that users also come across a wealth of videos showing a grim vision of society in disarray – heated arguments, unrest and divisive ideas. Tiktok prides itself on its finely tuned algorithm. But a key question remains: who is helping to decide what you see?
Christopher Lord is Monocle’s US editor. For a break from social media and an upbeat, opportunity-oriented read on the world, subscribe to Monocle today.