OPINION

TikTok is Fun Until China Wants Your Info

The BuzzFeed report details a member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety Department saying, in a fall 2021 meeting, that “everything is seen in China.” Worse, an unidentified director referred to a “Master Admin” based in Beijing who had “access to everything” on the app.

TikTok requires the use of your device’s microphone to collect voiceprints. Without access to TikTok’s source code, which only the company possesses, it’s hard to know what the app does with the permissions it’s given. But there is evidence that it records even when you aren’t using it. TikTok users report that Apple’s app-spying feature, which alerts devices’ owners when apps access your microphone or camera, pinged them about Tik-Tok accessing their mics when the app was closed. If TikTok’s access is as expansive as that implies, the Chinese government could use a smartphone as a listening device.