Washington’s ‘spying’ charges hit home |
The recent surge in users in the United States abandoning TikTok after the announcement of a so-called “Americanized” joint venture offers an ironic footnote to the long-running political drama around the popular video-sharing app. For years, some US politicians have claimed that TikTok represents a grave “national security threat”. Invoking slogans such as “privacy leakage risks” and “China threatens US data security” they created the specter of “Big Brother spying” on users of the app in the US.
Yet, now that a deal has been forced through for US capital to acquire control of the app in the country under these pretexts, it is not China that users in the US appear to fear. It is the US elites and government. According to data from market intelligence company Sensor Tower, the daily average of US users deleting TikTok has jumped nearly 150 percent over the five days from Thursday to Monday compared with the previous three months. The spike followed TikTok’s announcement that its US services would be operated by a new joint venture controlled by US capital, with a new leadership and a majority-US board. The message from users has been blunt: the promised “security solution” has only deepened anxiety.
Social media skepticism flared after users were prompted to agree to an updated privacy policy. Critics seized on language describing potential data collection........