TikTok Ban Siege Spreads What Japan? Mar 3 at 23:17

Situations that are said to be "symbols of the Cold War in the digital age" are circulating around the world.

In the midst of it is TikTok, a video posting app run by a Chinese company.

In Europe and the United States, the siege network of prohibiting the use of TikTok has spread, mainly among government agencies, and on the 23rd, the CEO of TikTok will testify at a hearing in the US House of Representatives.

A move to exclude the services of certain companies on the grounds of security risks.

Will it spread to Japan?
(Economic Affairs Department Reporter, Isao Watanabe)

U.S. Growing Concerns About TikTok

TikTok is operated by the Chinese company ByteDance.

Short videos of various genres such as dance, music, and cooking scenes are gaining worldwide popularity, especially among young people.

According to data released by the staff of the US Congress, there are more than 150 billion users in more than 10 countries and territories around the world.

The United States is increasingly wary of TikTok because it fears that user data will be passed on to the Chinese government.

Last December, the TikTok Federal Device Ban Act was enacted, which prohibits federal employees from using TikTok on official devices.

There is a growing movement among federal and state governments to ban TikTok for official business.

At the US Senate hearing held on March 12, FBI = Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Wray commented on the dangers of TikTok, saying, "It is a tool that is ultimately under the control of the Chinese government, and national security concerns are obvious," and pointed out that it is possible for the Chinese government to manipulate information through TikTok.

In response, TikTok has consistently claimed that there has been no interference by the Chinese government and that it has not provided any data to the government.

TikTok's CEO, what is his unique background?

Under these circumstances, at the hearing of the US House of Representatives to be held on the 23rd, TikTok CEO Chu will testify for the first time about the handling of user information.

CEO Chu is 40 years old.

Originally from Singapore, he studied economics at University College London and received an MBA = Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 2010.

After that, he joined the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi in 2015, and in 2018, he was involved in the listing of shares on the Hong Kong stock market as CFO = Chief Financial Officer.

He has a unique background in which he has worked in the London office of an investment bank, Goldman Sachs, and the American IT company Facebook (now "Meta").

CEO Chu posted a video on TikTok on the 21st.

He came to Washington to record congressional testimony.

Wearing a casual style of a white T-shirt, navy blue hoodie and jeans, TikTok has more than 1 million users in the U.S. and 5000 million companies use it for business.

He explained that it created 500,7000 jobs in the United States.

"Some legislators are starting to say we're going to ban TikTok, but we're going to take the app away from 1 million people," he said, slashing out the argument that the app should be banned.

It is attracting a lot of attention to see what kind of testimony CEO Chu, who has gained experience at leading universities and companies in the United States and knows the inner workings of American business well, will give before Congress.

What is the point of the hearing? Ask an Expert

We spoke with Professor Hiroshi Miyashita of the Faculty of Policy Management, Chuo University, who is familiar with Japan and Western personal information protection legislation, about the key points of his testimony at this hearing.

The point is

1 Content
of TikTok's privacy and data security2 Impact
on children3 Relationship with the Chinese government

It is said that there are three points above.

Professor Hiroshi Miyashita, Faculty of Policy Management, Chuo University
: "Regarding 1, the question is how to protect the privacy of Americans and whether TikTok will show concrete measures to protect it.

Regarding item 2, the focus is on whether there are any deficiencies in the age verification procedure for children under the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (in the United States, parental consent is required for children under the age of 13). If there is a problem, the FTC = Federal Trade Commission will initiate the penalty process.

As for the third most noteworthy issue, questions will be asked one after another about the reality and potential of information manipulation, such as how the Chinese government can access TikTok data and whether algorithms can be set up to disseminate information in favor of the Chinese government."

"Without a satisfactory explanation from Congress on these points, it could spur discussions about the sale of TikTok, which the U.S. government is allegedly seeking from its operator ByteDance.

It may violate the freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and we believe it is unrealistic."

Japan?

Not only the United States, but also the EU = European UnionOn February 2, the European Commission, which is the executive body of the European Union, and on February 23, the Canadian government announced that it would ban the use of TikTok on devices used for official business.

On March 2, the British government and on March 27, the New Zealand parliament announced a ban on the use of TikTok for business.

EU EU
= European Union's executive body, the European Commission, bans use on business devices (announced February 2, effective March 23) Canadian
government bans the use of Tiktok on mobile devices (announced February 3, effective February 15)




Ban on use of devices connected to the New Zealand Parliament's network (announced on March 2) Banned from using devices connected to the New Zealand
Parliament's network (announced on March 27, effective from March 2)

Unlike Europe and the United States Japan there is no rule that prohibits the use of TikTok alone, but will there be such a movement in Japan in the future?

The "Unified Standards for Cybersecurity Measures for Government Agencies, etc.," which stipulates standards for the use of SNS by central ministries and agencies, stipulates that the use of external services, including SNS, "cannot handle confidential information in principle because it is generally difficult to meet the necessary and sufficient security requirements for handling confidential information." When dealing with sensitive information related to national security, SNS cannot be used.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno said at a press conference on February 2, "When handling confidential information on government terminals, external services such as TikTok and other SNS cannot be used according to the standards. Even if confidential information is not handled, such as when used for public relations, the possibility of use will be determined based on various risks. The risks to be considered in this case are exemplified in the guidelines, and a mechanism is in place to seek advice from the Cabinet Cybersecurity Center on measures to be taken."

In this way, when government agencies transmit non-confidential information, the use of SNS is permitted under certain conditions.

In some government agencies, the Japan Meteorological Agency and others have used TikTok for public relations in the past.

Professor Miyashita points out the following by citing the problem that in 2021, the communication app LINE made users' personal information accessible from China and managed information in South Korea.

Professor Hiroshi Miyashita, Faculty of Policy Management, Chuo University:
"The case of LINE is a lesson to learn, but I think it is necessary to have a more detailed discussion on SNS in Japan terms and what conditions must be met to be used for public affairs and what are the conditions under which SNS can no longer be used for public business."

Develop rules to enhance transparency

Professor Miyashita also states that SNS operators are also required to make efforts to increase the transparency of data use to ensure reliability.

Professor Hiroshi Miyashita, Faculty of Policy Management, Chuo University
: "For example, when the government requests the disclosure of personal data for criminal investigations, SNS operators generally publish the number of inquiries from the government and the number of cases actually disclosed in the form of regular reports.

However, in the case of TikTok, the actual state of data use and whether or not it is accessed by the Chinese government are not fully understood, which is thought to have led to concerns in Europe and the United States. Business operators themselves are required to increase transparency, and I think it will be necessary for Japan to develop rules to encourage this in cooperation with other countries."

Are there any problems with the Japan system?

After understanding what kind of interaction there will be at the US congressional hearing on the 23rd, I thought it was necessary to reconsider whether there are any issues with how to use SNS in Japan and the mechanism for managing user information.

Isao

Watanabe, Reporter, Ministry of Economic AffairsFrom the Wakayama Bureau in 2012, he was in
charge of covering the Ministry of
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the banking industry, and economic security.