Wen Chen's View

(By Amber Wang and Wen Chen, Feb. 28, 2023 ) As of right now, Canada and 32 states in the US have banned government employees from using TikTok on government-issued devices. And there’s a good reason for that. While it is one of the most popular social media apps on the market today, TikTok presents serious security issues that are further exacerbated by its widespread usage.(2)   In a 2022 report, cybersecurity research group Internet 2.0 revealed TikTok’s excessive data collection regimen and the dangers it poses to users. In addition to typical user permissions requested by other social media apps, TikTok retrieves all installed applications on the phone, which could theoretically provide it with realistic “device maps” for every user. (4) Other highly intrusive functions performed include GPS location checking at least once per hour, asking for persistent access to the calendar and contacts, and collecting a plethora of device details such as clipboard content and all ac...