About this app
What is Tiktak?
Tiktak is a Chinese video sharing social network where users can upload their own videos through their phone. These videos are sorted into different categories for people to browse through and interact with.
Tiktak is owned by the Beijing internet technology company ByteDance, which was founded in 2012. Five years later, the app launched for Android and iOS in markets outside of mainland China. After merging with Musical.ly in August of 2018, Tiktak became available worldwide. Tiktak has offices around the world and has been quickly gaining popularity with over 1 billion users around the globe in less than four years.
One of the reasons for the rising popularity of the app is the use of Tiktak by celebrities and influencers. From Jimmy Fallon to Jessica Alba and Will Smith, a lot of well-known names are using the app. The merger with Musical.ly has also increased Tiktak’s popularity. The app is now even giving rise to new Tiktak celebrities, such as Zach King, Loren Gray, and Charli D’Amelio.
Why Are Some Countries Banning Tiktak?
Tiktak has already been banned in India and might be banned in the United States as well. According to India’s official statement, the app was banned because it represented a threat to the privacy of its citizens and their data. Tiktak was one of 59 apps that were banned in the country following a border dispute.
According to The Economic Times, India’s Ministry of Information Technology made the following statement:
“The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures.”
This concern about data mining is the primary reason the U.S. has given regarding banning Tiktak from its country as well. While Tiktak denies that the data from this app is shared with the Chinese government, the U.S. has already restricted service members from using the app.
Involvement of the Chinese government
The concern comes from the assumed inability of Chinese companies to refuse Communist Party requests to their user data. Tiktak has stated that all U.S. data is stored in the U.S. and therefore isn’t subject to Chinese law. If you’d like to know more about the privacy risks of Tiktak, you can read our article on the dangers of Tiktak.
While there were talks in Australia to ban the app, the federal government in the country has decided against it after stating Tiktak wasn’t a national security threat. In 2018, both Indonesia and Bangladesh blocked Tiktak in their countries, but these measures have since been lifted. The reason for the ban was cited as inappropriate content and blasphemy. According to bdnews24.com, this was resolved when Tiktak put certain censorship measures in place in these countries.
App Permissions
Allows applications to open network sockets.
Allows applications to access information about networks.
Allows an app to access precise location.
Allows an app to access approximate location.
Allows an app to create windows using the type TYPE_APPLICATION_OVERLAY, shown on top of all other apps.
Allows an application to receive the ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED that is broadcast after the system finishes booting.
Allows an application to read from external storage.
Allows an application to write to external storage.
Allows using PowerManager WakeLocks to keep processor from sleeping or screen from dimming.
Allows applications to access information about Wi-Fi networks.
Allows applications to change Wi-Fi connectivity state.
Allows applications to connect to paired bluetooth devices.
Allows applications to discover and pair bluetooth devices.
Allows access to the list of accounts in the Accounts Service.
Allows read only access to phone state, including the phone number of the device, current cellular network information, the status of any ongoing calls, and a list of any PhoneAccounts registered on the device.
Allows an application to write to external storage.
