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The federal government is considering pushing an outright ban on the video-sharing app TikTok across the U.S., just weeks after banning the app from all U.S. government devices. Citing data privacy concerns stemming from TikTok’s parent company, the Chinese firm ByteDance, officials have made it clear that they believe the app could be used to spy on Americans’ personal information and deliver that data directly to the Chinese government, which is known for cyber-theft of IR, trade secrets and other proprietary information from Western companies to advance its own national security priorities.

Considering what to do about TikTok

But for businesses that use TikTok for marketing or employ any of the 150 million Americans who have the app, what’s to be done? The answer, for now, lies in following basic security hygiene practices for all data-collecting apps, not just TikTok. 

The reality is that no matter what TikTok’s affiliation with the Chinese government is, it’s not the only app that’s capable of actively farming user data. Snapchat, Google and Meta all take advantage of user data to more granularly target ads and understand user behavior.

No company is immune to cyber-breaches and data theft, so much of that highly personal data can be potentially exposed by an adversary. TikTok does data collection on a large scale because of the size of its user base and current popularity, but generally, if you’re not paying for the app or service, it’s using your data to make money.

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