TikTok really dey dangerous?

China don attack one bill wey di US Congress dey propose and e go lead to di ban of TikTok for di United States. China say di bill no dey fair.

Dis na di latest move ova fear of safety ontop TikTok wey one Chinese company get.

Many officials, politicians and security agencies for many kontris don chop ban make dem no install am for dia phones

Wetin come be di biggest fear for TikTok and how di company dey respond?

1. TikTok dey collect 'too much' amount of data

TikTok say di way di app dey collect data "dey follow dia industry practices".

Many sabi pipo even dey accuse TikTok say dem too dey collect plenti amount of pesin data.

Pipo wey dey analyse find say TikTok dey collect details wey include location, which kain device pesin dey use and which oda apps bin dey ontop pesin phone.

Anoda similar test wey Citizen Lab bin conduct show say TikTok "dey collect pipo data wey dem fit use track user behaviour, just like oda popular social media platforms".

Oda study according to Georgia Institute of Technology show say "most social media and mobile apps dey do same tin."

2. Di Chinese goment fit use TikTok to spy on users

TikTok say dia company dey fully independent and "dem no dey provide user data to di Chinese goment, and dem no go agree if dem ask for am"

Some sabi pipo accept say to dey hand-ova private data of users na di deal wey dey social networks.

Dem dey sell information about us for advertising purpose to exchange for di service wey dem dey offer us.

Dem also dey sell our data give oda companies wey dey try advertise to us on di internet.

Di issue wey sabi pipo get wit TikTok be say na Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance get am and e no be like oda apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube wey be say na US companies.

Since 2020, TikTok executives don bin dey try assure pipo say Chinese staff no fit get access to oda users for di app.

But for 2022, ByteDance admit say some Beijing-based employees get access to di data of at least two journalists for di US and UK to track dia locations and to check weda dem dey meet wit TikTok workers wey dem suspect say e dey leak information give di media.

TikTok tok-tok pesin say dem don fire di pesin wey access di information. Di company add say user data no dey stored for China and dem dey build data centres for Texas for US users.

TikTok tok say "data of our European users dey safeguarded for one specially designed protective environment, and na only approved employees subject to strict independent oversight and verification fit access am."

3. Dem fit use TikTok as 'brainwashing' tool

TikTok dey argue say dia guidelines "no allow misinformation wey fit cause harm to di public wey also include behaviour wey no dey real."

For November 2022, Christopher Wray, wey be director of di Federal Bureau of Investigation, tell US lawmakers say: "Di Chinese goment fit… control di algorithm, wey fit influence operations."

Dis concerns dey supported for di fact say TikTok sister app, Douyin, wey only dey available for China dey heavily censored and operate to allow educational materials go to dia young audience.

All di social networks dey heavily censored for China, wit internet police wey dey delete contents wey dey criticise goment or cause political kasala.

For 2022, di Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) bin warn say e dey harmful to participate for some TikTok video challenges.

Authorities say one new TikTok trend wey dem call "Invisible Challenge" fit expose devices to information-stealing malware.

NCC give dis advice through dia Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCC-CSIRT).

For inside di advisory, di communication bodi say hackers don take advantage of di viral TikTok challenge to tiff informate.

Dem explain say hackers dey use di challenge to share one information-stealing malware wey dem dey call WASP (or W4SP) stealer.

"Di platform no dey enforce obvious post censorship," researcher tok for 2021.

Theoretical risk

Sabi pipo argue say TikTok be like "Trojan horse" - even though e dey harmless, dem fit use am as powerful weapon during di times of conflict.

Di app already dey banned for India, wey take action against di app and oda Chinese platforms for 2020.

But a US ban on TikTok fit get a huge impact on di platform. Dis dey obvious wen di US bin block Chinese telecom Huawei make dem no dey part of di 5G infrastructure sake of di risk.

E dey worthy of note say dis risks na one-way, but China no dey worry about US apps becos dem don block access to Chinese citizens ontop di platforms for many years.