TikTok takes Malta by storm but fans might be unaware of privacy fears

Two months ago, Reddit user ‘bangorlol’ claimed to have successfully reverse-engineered the TikTok app and shared what he learned about the Chinese video-sharing social networking service, warning about its intrusive user tracking and other issues.

Ranking websites show TikTok is currently one of the top-five most downloaded apps by iOS and Android users in Malta.

The app, which allows users to make short videos of themselves, often featuring background music or editing filters, started becoming popular locally in the summer of 2019.

But the Chinese-owned app, has come under fire by those who fear it is being used by China as a surveillance tool. The US is considering banning the app altogether, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying earlier this week that a TikTok ban was “something we’re looking at”.

TikTok was last month banned by India, which cited privacy concerns and said the app was a threat to its sovereignty and security.

An IT legal expert and privacy advocate in Malta has also voiced concerns over the potential privacy intrusions of the popular video-sharing social network TikTok, asking whether using the app was worth the risks it potentially involved.

Dr Antonio Ghio told MaltaToday that TikTok, like other social networking apps, presented a number of privacy concerns which their users might not be aware of.

Ghio said that, like with other social networking services, including Facebook, there were privacy issues tied to the use of such apps.

“Unfortunately, TikTok’s main audience – young people in what is typically called ‘Generation Z’ – often fall short of giving the needed importance to such privacy issues,” Ghio said.

The privacy worries on TikTok are further compounded by international political realities, he said, since the app is Chinese-owned.

“The same was the case with FaceApp, the photo-transforming app owned by a Russian company. People had started questioning whether Russia might have been using that app to start illegally collecting personal data about its users including facial recognition data.”

“The bottom line, in my view, is should we use TikTok and similar apps when potentially we haven’t at least taken the time to read carefully their privacy policy?” he said.

Privacy worries on TikTok are compounded by international political realities since the app is Chinese-owned. “The same was the case with FaceApp, the photo-transforming app owned by a Russian company. People had started questioning whether Russia might have been using that app to start illegally collecting personal data about its users including facial recognition data,” IT law expert Antonio Ghio says

Asked whether the potential dangers of TikTok would be a threat to its Maltese users, Ghio said that it wasn’t likely that China was specifically spying on the data of users in Malta, as some theories in other countries such as the US suggest. “There have been various complaints and controversies that TikTok was trying to influence public opinion. This has happened with Facebook in the past, the controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica and the 2016 US elections being a prime example.”

“Will TikTok utilise Maltese users to try and change potential public opinion when it comes to the ties between Malta and China – for instance in relation to the Electrogas contract? Probably not – I don’t think we’re under China’s radar in this regard – but the potential is there.”

He underlined that, before making use of TikTok, people should ask if they really need to do so. “There’s currently a craze for TikTok, with its Chinese mother company, Byte Dance being currently valued at over €100 billion and TikTok having over 800 million monthly users. But the first question one should ask is: do I really need this app?”

He underscored that people should keep in mind that the app could potentially have access to a lot of personal data about the users including location data, and details about other apps and files stored on the device.

“There have been a number of documented reports that the app could potentially even generate a folder where it stores users’ photos and videos without them knowing, especially those that have nothing to do with the app usage itself – something which is very dangerous,” he said.

Ghio also referred to the wider protection framework introduced in Europe through the General Data Protection Regulation. “The GDPR is a solid piece of legislation, and, irrespective of whether TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, the regulation still applies in the EU since some of its data subjects, including Maltese citizens reside within its borders,” he said.

“Therefore, the legal remedies and protection of privacy do exist for users in the EU if the service the app offers targets the Union’s citizens.”

“However, a law is only part of the solution – it’s not a complete shield. It is not sufficient to allow you to sleep well at night, knowing your facial, app or location data is safe, irrespective of the fact that legal statutes, predominantly the GDPR, disbar such illegal processing.”

At the end of the day, Ghio said, people should ask whether having fun with the app was worth putting their privacy at risk. “Younger people might come to a different conclusion when asked this question – they might not be concerned about their privacy as much, and this is a tragedy in itself,” he remarked.