The rise of TikTok was fast and furious. It did not take long for the company to gain millions of users, partly because of the ability to sell the idea that nobody wanted to take the time to watch a long video or read a long article.
But like all things that were created in China, and most notable, any company that generated a lot of income, (Alibaba – $1.3 trillion) the Chinese government will have their say in how the company is run and what information that company must provide to the government entities that are requesting it, as well, if you are flamboyant and outspoken, you will find yourself being bonked on the head by the Chinese government.
Case in point would be Jack Ma. Billionaire businessman who was admired and loved by millions, found himself on the wrong side of the Chinese government and ultimately made to take a long vacation, as well as resign from the companies that he founded.
Jack Ma is most well known for creating Alibaba, in 1999 as well as: Ant Group, Yunfeng Capital, Lazada, Alibaba Cloud, Freshippo, DingTalk, Alimama and Cainiao Network.
Now, we have TikTok that is fighting for its survival due to the same reasons. A list of countries that have partially banned the app or completely banned the app all together.
It should be noted that many Chinese companies have servers set up in datacenters all over the world. It’s common practice to allow them to deliver content quicker without putting a strain on the main computing datacenter. It should also be noted that in this case, TikTok is lobbying Congress, spending a large amount of money in the process.
Afghanistan: The Taliban banned TikTok in Afghanistan in April 2022, saying that the platform’s content “was not consistent with Islamic laws”
Australia: On April 4, Australia banned the app from all federal government-owned devices, citing security concerns raised by the the Department of Home Affairs. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the ban would be imposed “as soon as practicable”
Belgium: Belgium banned TikTok from the work phones of government officials. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in a statement “We can’t be naive: TikTok is a Chinese company that currently is mandated to cooperate with Chinese intelligence services.”
Canada: Mirroring other countries, Canada banned TikTok from all government mobile devices in February of this year. Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board, said the partial ban is due to the app presenting “an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”
Denmark: Denmark’s Defense Ministry banned employees from having TikTok downloaded on their work devices in March. Again related to security considerations assessed by the country’s Center for Cyber Security, staffers were told to remove the app as soon as possible.
India: India made moves against TikTok in 2020, implementing a nationwide ban on TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps, for “engaging in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order.” The government put the ban in place after a deadly border clash between Indian and Chinese military forces. India is the largest country to place a blanket ban on the app.
Nepal: In November 2023, Nepal banned TikTok for disrupting “social harmony”. The BBC reported that the ban would come into effect immediately, according to Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma, who said that the app spread malicious content. TikTok is widely used in the country, especially by younger and female social media users.
Netherlands: While not an outright ban, Dutch officials have been told not to use TikTok. The recommendation is in line with several other government service bodies, but is being less monitored in the Netherlands.
New Zealand: Following several European countries making similar decisions, New Zealand’s parliament announced a ban on TikTok on all staff devices.
Norway: The Norwegian Parliament banned TikTok on governmental devices in March, though allowing civil servants to use the app on professional grounds on their personal devices. The country’s justice minister Emilie Enger Mehl said in a statement, “The Norwegian intelligence services single out Russia and China as the main risk factors for Norway’s security interests.”
Somalia: In August 2023, Somalia banned TikTok over concerns of terror-related content. The government said terrorist groups are using platforms like TikTok and Telegram to spread “horrific images and misinformation to the public.”
Taiwan: Government devices in Taiwan were banned from using Chinese-made software, including TikTok, in December 2022.
United Kingdom: British government ministers have been banned from using TikTok on work phones and devices, following reviews by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre. Cabinet office minister Oliver Dowden explained in a statement that the government’s decision “is in line with similar restrictions brought in by key international partners,” citing the U.S. and Canadian governments and the European Commission.
United States: In short, it’s complicated, but efforts to ban TikTok have made headway this year. On March 14, the House of Representatives passed a bill that could ban TikTok, unless its parent company ByteDance divests from the app. The bill is now headed to the Senate, and if passed will hit President Joe Biden’s (who, by-the-way is himself using the app for campagining) desk, who has already said he would sign off.
The following is republished with permission from “The Conversation.” The original article can be read at: Is TikTok’s parent company an agent of the Chinese state? In China Inc., it’s a little more complicated
Does the Chinese government have officials inside TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, pulling the strings? And does the storing of data from the popular social media app outside of China protect Americans?
These questions appear to dominate the current thinking in the U.S. over whether to ban TikTok if its owner, Chinese technology giant ByteDance, refuses to sell the platform.
But in my opinion – forged through 40 years as a scholar of China, its political economy and business – both questions obscure a more interesting point. What’s more, they suggest a crucial misunderstanding of the relationship between state and private enterprise in China.
Simply put, there’s no clear line between the state and society in China in the same way that there is in democracies. The Chinese Communist Party – which is synonymous with the Chinese state – both owns and is the nation. And that goes for private enterprises, too. They operate like joint ventures in which the government is both a partner and the ultimate boss. Both sides know that – even if that relationship isn’t expressly codified and recognizable to outside onlookers.
ByteDance under the microscope
Take ByteDance. The company has become the focus of scrutiny in the U.S. largely due to the outsized influence that its subsidiary plays in the lives of young Americans. Some 170 million Americans are TikTok users, and U.S. politicians fear their data has a direct route back to the Chinese state via ByteDance, which has its head offices in Beijing.
Location aside, concerned voices in the U.S. cite the evidence of former ByteDance employees who suggest interference from the Chinese government, and reports that the state has quietly taken a direct stake and a board seat at Beijing ByteDance Technology Co. Ltd., ByteDance’s Chinese subsidiary.
Grilled by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in March 2023, TikTok’s Singaporean CEO Shou Zi Chew said unequivocally that ByteDance was not “an agent of China or any other country.”
The history of the Chinese government’s dealings with private companies suggests something more subtle, however.
The rise of China Inc.
Over its century-long history, the Chinese Communist Party has sought to exercise control over all aspects of the country, including its economy. In its early days, this control took the form of a heavy-handed command economy in which everything was produced and consumed according to government planning.
China took a step in a more capitalist direction in the latter half of the 20th century after the death of Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China. But even the reforms of Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s and 1980s – credited for opening up China’s economy – were in the service of party goals. Because China’s economy was in ruins, the party’s emphasis was on economic development, and it loosened its grip on power to encourage that. The continuation of party control was still paramount – it just needed to reform the economy to ensure that goal.
That didn’t mean the party wanted pluralism. After decades of economic growth, and with a GDP surpassing that of the U.S. when measured by purchasing power parity, the Chinese government once again started to shift its focus to a comprehensive control of China.
In recent years, under the increasingly centralized control of Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has evidently opted to run the entire country as a giant corporation, with the ruling party as its management.
A party with unusual power
Unlike political parties in democracies, which people freely join and leave, the Chinese Communist Party resembles a secret society. To join, you need to be introduced by two party members and tested for an extended period, and then pledge to die for the party’s cause. Quitting it also needs approval by the party. Orders are implicit, and protecting one’s superior is crucial.
People who don’t cooperate face serious consequences. In 2022, an official warned a resident who disobeyed the official’s order in COVID-19 testing that three generations of the resident’s descendants would be adversely affected if he were uncooperative. The same is true of businesses: Ride-sharing company Didi incurred the party’s displeasure by listing its stocks in the U.S., and was harshly punished and forced to delist as a result – losing more than 80% of its value.
Since those who disobey the party are weeded out or are punished and seen to have learned their lessons, all surviving and successful private businesses are party supporters – either voluntarily or otherwise.
The rapid emergence of China Inc. has caught even seasoned Chinese entrepreneurs off guard. Consider the case of Sun Dawu, a successful agricultural entrepreneur known for advocating for rural reform and the rights of farmers. That offended the party, and in 2020, authorities confiscated all his assets and sentenced him to 18 years in prison.
As if that weren’t enough, China’s National Intelligence Law granted broad powers to the country’s spy agencies and obligates companies to assist with intelligence efforts. That’s why some American lawmakers are concerned that ByteDance could be forced to hand over Americans’ private data to the Chinese state. TikTok denies this is the case. However, recently leaked files of I-Soon, a Chinese hacking firm, reveal public-private collusion in data sharing is common in China.
That’s why I’m not convinced by TikTok’s argument that American users’ data is safe because it’s stored outside of China, in the U.S., Malaysia and Singapore. I also don’t think it’s relevant whether the party has members on the ByteDance board or gives explicit orders to TikTok.
Regardless of whether ByteDance has formal ties with the party, there will be the tacit understanding that the management is working for two bosses: the investors of the company and – more importantly – their political overseers that represent the party. But most importantly, when the interests of the two bosses conflict, the party trumps.
As such, as long as ByteDance owns TikTok, I believe ByteDance will use TikTok to support the party – not just for its own business survival, but for the safety of the personnel of ByteDance and TikTok, and their families.