Here are their arguments.

Data sharing

Like its competitors Instagram, Snapchat or YouTube, TikTok's model is largely based on the use of data relating to its users, many of whom are young, even very young, and care little about these issues.

TikTok critics are concerned that this data is accessible to the platform's parent company, the Chinese group ByteDance, theoretically subject to the control of the Chinese Communist Party.

However, some experts believe these concerns are exaggerated.

They argue that many malicious actors can gain access to this data regardless of who owns the platform.

“If we are talking about data relating to American citizens, it is the + Wild West +”, advances Justin Sherman, researcher at the school of public policy at Duke University.

“There is very little regulation, companies are constantly collecting tons of data, whether it is American or foreign companies,” he adds.

TikTok said this year that it would store all US user information in the United States.

Spying

Like all apps, TikTok potentially opens up access to other data and features on the user's phone.

“Every time you download an application on a phone, it is possible that this application is used to access other things” on the device, recalls Michael Daniel, director general of the Cyber ​​Threat Alliance, a non-governmental organization dedicated to computer security.

Through the application, an ill-intentioned operator can in particular “activate the microphone or the camera of this equipment without the user even being aware of it”, continues Michael Daniel, former coordinator for cybersecurity within the National Council. American security.

In charge of security strategies within the cybersecurity company Cato Networks, Etay Maor cites the example of Pegasus, a spyware created by the Israeli company NSO Group and used by certain political leaders to monitor critics and opponents.

“Maybe with TikTok, we install the Chinese version of Pegasus on our smartphones,” he argues.

"I believe that is what concerns the US government."

Censorship

Among the risks associated with TikTok, experts also cite the possibility for Chinese authorities to censor certain content to align with the policies of the Chinese Communist Party.

"The idea is that the Chinese government could enjoin TikTok not to allow content that supports (the protest in Tibet or Taiwan) to filter through its platform and, as a result, shape the information landscape" accessible to users. , according to Michael Daniel.

TikTok claims to have never intervened in its content to satisfy the Chinese authorities.

However, "considering how the Chinese authorities censor information and limit the work of journalists, it is not at all far-fetched to say that the same thing could happen on TikTok elsewhere" than in China, considers Justin Sherman .

Disinformation

Beyond a possible moderation of politically oriented content, observers raise the possibility that TikTok is used to influence opinion and disrupt the democratic process in the United States, like the campaign led by Russia before the 2016 US presidential election.

A study conducted by the organization Global Witness and the Cybersecurity Center for Democracy, attached to New York University, has already shown that TikTok had leaked many videos containing disinformation during the campaign for the last American legislative elections.

After a comparative analysis, TikTok "had the worst results among all the platforms tested", a sample that also included Facebook and YouTube.

In response to these shortcomings, the social network implemented new moderation measures and now requires government and politician accounts to be verified.

Hostility to China

Some experts question TikTok's ability to satisfy US concerns, as the platform is ostracized, on principle, for its ties to China.

A climate that should further deteriorate with the takeover of the Republicans in the House of Representatives in January.

Historically more hostile to China than Democrats, Republicans are putting pressure on President Joe Biden's government, which is currently negotiating a possible protocol with TikTok that would address national security concerns.

Started more than three years ago, the discussions are dragging on and, according to the Politico site, differences persist within the government, which could lead to an impasse and incite the American State to force ByteDance to sell TikTok.

© 2022 AFP