TikTok could pose security risk, MPs told

WELLINGTON: MPs have been asked to delete TikTok over security concerns data could be accessed by the Chinese government.

It comes amid global concerns the popular social media app is collating massive amounts of user data.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has urged Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, claiming its owner, Beijing company ByteDance, cannot be trusted with US users’ data given its links to the Chinese government.

Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard said in a letter shared with MPs that Parliamentary Services ‘‘strongly recommends you do not use TikTok on your Parliamentary Service devices as it could pose a security risk where data on your devices could be accessed by ByteDance (the owner of TikTok) and the Chinese government’’.

If MPs chose to retain the app they were recommended to check permission granted, remove location accessibility and change a range of other security settings.

Those who used the app on a personal device were also warned to be aware of the risks raised.

It comes after a similar warning in 2020.

There are about 1.2 billion TikTok users globally as of December last year. The number is expected to rise to 1.8 billion by the end of the year.

In New Zealand, there are about 1.4 million users of the app, which is currently popular among many MPs including Maori Party coleader Debbie NgarewaPacker.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has used TikTok to reach voters in the past, and so, too, National’s

Nicola Willis and Act New Zealand’s David Seymour.

According to TikTok’s privacy policy, it will not sell personal information to third parties, but it reserves the right to use information internally for business development, including by by ByteDance.

According to a piece by Griffith University applied ethics and cybersecurity senior lecturer David Tuffley in the The Conversation, TikTok US has denied breaching data privacy regulations.

It says user data are stored on US servers and not shared with ByteDance, but the US says these measures fall short of guaranteeing the privacy of US users

Under questioning by politicians, TikTok has admitted its USstored data are in fact accessible from China, subject to unspecified security protocols at the US end. —