Tiktok’s China connection raises security concerns again – Sitra banned the app from its devices

The think tank Sitra announced last week that it has banned the use of the Tiktok application with all their work devices (you switch to another service). The decision is based on an Austrian information security researcher Felix Krausen the revelation that Tiktok is able to record all the user’s actions in the application’s own browser.

– Tiktok had been under the magnifying glass for a long time. When more detailed information about how it tracks users was revealed, the threshold was crossed, says Sitra’s information management manager Teemu Linna.

According to Linna, the matter was examined at Sitra specifically from the point of view of protecting users’ privacy. The think tank has long spoken in favor of stricter data regulation, so now it was natural to live as you teach.

Sitra is the first employer in Finland to publicly ban Tiktok.

There may be others. The Cybersecurity Center is reminded that each company and community determines the applications allowed on their work devices themselves. Tiktok is not an exception in this respect, just like banning an individual application is not.

Tracking user activity is not exceptional. Before Tiktok’s tracking code was revealed, Krause said he had noticed Facebook and Instagram (you switch to another service) the next user’s clicks and text painting in the application’s own browser.

The application’s own browser means the web browser built into the application. By default, all links opened in applications open in these own browsers instead of Chrome or Safari browsers.

In the case of Tiktok, however, the possibilities for digging were exceptionally wide. This is why Krause’s revelation broke the camel’s back at Sitra.

– A significant factor for us was that Tiktok users have no way to prevent sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands. In Meta’s services [joihin Facebook ja Instagram kuuluvat] it is possible to protect your own information if you know how to act correctly, Linna states.

In his report, Krause did not claim that Tiktok collects keystrokes. However, he found that the application has a possibility for this.

Tiktok, owned by the Chinese technology company Bytedance, has caused concern in Western countries as long as the application has been at the top of the download lists. The concerns caused by the application, which became a phenomenon during the pandemic, are manifold.

The biggest suspicion is related to the relationship between Tiktok and the Chinese government. Western countries fear that the Chinese administration, which has a tight grip on technology companies, can gain access to the data of Western users if it wants to.

This fear is on the surface especially in the United States, where Tiktok is even seen as a threat to national security.

President Donald Trump’s during the period, there were several attempts to ban the Chinese app completely. When this failed, the Trump administration tried to forcefully sell Tiktok to an American company.

In the end, all of Trump’s plans dried up and Tiktok was allowed to remain under Chinese ownership. Joe Biden during the presidency, the turmoil around Tiktok has continued, but so far no equally radical proposals have been heard from the White House.

The strict line of the Trump administration drove Tiktok permanently on the defensive.

In public, Tiktok has repeatedly tried to downplay its connections to China. The company often points out that it has an American CEO, and the service is not even available in China (Tiktok is a copy of the Douyin application owned by Bytedance, which in turn is only available in China).

The brand work has not gone through in the American media.

Another major concern has been Tiktok’s contents and influencing them.

In the minds of many, Tiktok is still a fun app where people dance. However, with the increase in the number of users, Tanssiminen has become fewer and the contents have become more diverse and at the same time politicized.

Tiktok has indeed been accused of curbing the spread of content critical of China.

In July BuzzFeed news (you go to another service), that Bytedance had intensified the spread of pro-China content in its owned – already hacked – TopBuzz news app. At the same time, the company had silenced content critical of China. In other words, the app offered more panda videos and less news about Hong Kong.

All these revelations have raised concerns, especially in the United States, where preparations are being made for midterm elections in the fall. Many politicians have adopted Tiktok to target young voters.

Tiktok is by no means the only Chinese technology company that arouses fear and suspicion in Western countries. Network equipment manufacturers such as Huawei and ZTE are also under scrutiny.

Last year, Lithuanian authorities urged their citizens not to buy phones made by China’s Xiaomi after the country’s cybersecurity center reported on censorship software built into the phones.

The concern is not limited to Western countries either. For example, India has completely banned Tiktok.

Not all concern over Chinese technology is technical. There is always politics involved. From a purely technical point of view, Tiktok is not a particularly exceptional app.

However, the connections of the world’s third largest social media platform to an authoritarian regime are extraordinary.