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TikTok: Technology Overview and Issues gather and use.16 Some critics have described TikTok’s approach to data mining as aggressive17 and that its ability to track user behavior while using the app, as well as access to a user’s photos, videos, and phone book and geolocation tracking (based on user permissions), means that it can build extremely detailed behavioral profiles of its users that could potentially be shared with the Chinese government.18 On August 11, 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok avoided privacy safeguards in Google’s Android operating system to collect users’ mobile device MAC addresses, unique identifiers that allow “the app to track users online,” and concealed this activity with an additional layer of encryption before ending the practice after 15 months in November 2019.19 Data Storage TikTok claims to store all content created by U.S. users—as well as data about those users—only on servers located within the United States and backed up in Singapore. Those servers are owned or controlled by TikTok, but the company denies that it shares or would share this data with the Chinese government,20 stating that: The key personnel responsible for TikTok ... are all Americans based in the United States—and therefore are not subject to Chinese law. U.S. content moderation is likewise led by a U.S.-based team and operates independently from China, and, as noted above, the TikTok application stores U.S. user data on servers located in the United States and Singapore.21 Data Sharing Despite these assertions, TikTok’s website says that information can be shared with its parent company in China or other affiliates (usually advertisers), which operate under Chinese law.22 Further, a lawsuit filed in federal court in December 2019 asserted that user data was harvested and sent to servers in China.23 White House TikTok Executive Orders President Trump has issued two Executive Orders affecting the future of TikTok in the United States, one on August 6, 2020, and another on August 14, 2020. 16 Sherrod DeGrippo, “Understanding the Information TikTok Gathers and Stores,” Proofpoint, January 8, 2020, at https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/threat-protection/understanding-information-tiktok-gathers-and-stores. 17 Ryan Broderick, “Forget the Trade War. TikTok Is China’s Most Important Export Right Now,” BuzzFeed News, May 16, 2019, at https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/forget-the-trade-war-tiktok-is-chinas-most- important-export. 18 “TikTok’s Huge Data Harvesting Prompts U.S. Security Concerns.” 19 Kevin Poulsen and Robert McMillan, “TikTok Tracked User Data Using Tactic Banned by Google,” Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2020, sec. Tech, at https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-tracked-user-data-using-tactic-banned-by- google-11597176738. 20 “TikTok User Data: What Does the App Collect and Why Are U.S. Authorities Concerned?” 21 “Why We Are Suing the Administration,” TikTok Blog, August 24, 2020, at https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/ tiktok-files-lawsuit. 22 “TikTok User Data: What Does the App Collect and Why Are U.S. Authorities Concerned?” 23 “Tiktok Sent US User Data to China, Lawsuit Claims,” BBC.com, December 3, 2019, at https://www.bbc.com/news/ business-50640110. Congressional Research Service 4PDF Image | TikTok: Technology Overview and Issues Updated October 21, 2020 Congressional Research Service
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