How scared should the West be of TikTok?

Even if you aren’t on Tiktok, you’ll know one of its billion plus monthly users. But how many of them know how their data is being collected, by whom, and why? The US is now proposing to ban the Chinese-owned social media platform over its links to the Chinese Communist Party. Chris Jones asks leading tech journalist Will Guyatt whether this is all just a form of political warfare against China – or if we really should worry about TikTok.  

• “The idea that TikTok is in whole owned by the Chinese Communist Party isn’t true. It’s a complex system of ownership spread across the world, including the U.S. and the Cayman Islands.”  

• “There are rabid inconsistencies. Joe Biden is saying he’ll support the act to ban TikTok, and using it as a part of his campaign.”  

• “Is this about fears over information gathering or is this purely geopolitical? Or a bigger feeling that we shouldn’t do anything to benefit China?”  

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Written and presented by Chris Jones. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. Instagram | Twitter  

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