They also alleged that data from the UK, where the app has an estimated 18 million users, was “routinely transferred to China”. In a letter to the speakers of the Houses of Commons and Lords, politicians claimed “data security risks associated with the app are considerable”. In Ireland, the data protection watchdog, which regulates TikTok on behalf of the EU, in September 2021 launched an investigation into “transfers by TikTok of personal data to China and TikTok’s compliance with the GDPR’s requirements for transfers of personal data to third countries”.Īnd the UK parliament shut down its TikTok account this August after a lobbying campaign by Conservative politicians, including former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith and recent leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat. In India, where TikTok had more than 200 million users, the government in September 2020 banned the platform and dozens of other Chinese apps, after warning that user data was being mined and profiled “by elements hostile to national security and defence of India”. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have in recent months called for stricter regulation and inquiry. According to analytics firm data.ai, which produced the 16tn estimate, there are 112 million TikTok iPhone and Android users in the US. The US Committee on Foreign Investment, which scrutinises business deals with non-US companies, is also conducting a security review of TikTok. Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, revoked the orders and instead directed the US commerce department to work with other agencies to produce recommendations to protect the data of people in the US from foreign adversaries. The orders were never enforced due to legal challenges and then Trump leaving office. This, the order claimed, paves the way for China to track the locations of government employees, build dossiers for blackmail and conduct corporate espionage. ![]() This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.” The order issued on 6 August 2020 stated: “TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories. In the US, Donald Trump in August 2020 signed an executive order that blocked people from downloading the app, which was followed by an order for TikTok to sell its US business. The distrust has already been expressed in scrutiny from regulators and politicians around the world, worried about the amount of data TikTok collects and whether Chinese authorities have access to it. “As the geopolitical situation changes I suspect we will see companies such as TikTok will continue to be treated with some caution in the west,” says Alan Woodward, a professor of cybersecurity at Surrey University. Users can, for instance, receive a cash-filled electronic red packet from a Douyin campaign and deposit that cash to their bank accounts.Owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok’s success – more than 1 billion users worldwide – is combining with well-established fears about social media’s data collection practices and concerns over China’s geo-political ambitions to generate a background hum of distrust about the app. The license, in turn, allows Douyin, Toutiao and other ByteDance services to offer payment features. Last September, a company controlled by ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming bought out a payments solution provider called Wuhan Hezhong Yibao Technology Co. Like other internet firms, Douyin parent ByteDance snapped up a coveted payments license by acquiring a third-party payments firm. All in all, Alipay and WeChat Pay handle about 90% of China’s electronic payments. Other internet giants, such as e-commerce giant JD.com and food delivery service Meituan, have also tried luring people to use their own payment methods, though the market duopoly is hard to break. Instead of the ubiquitous WeChat Pay and Alipay, they may opt for Douyin Pay one day, if the incentives are great enough. ![]() Users can be directed to a product link while watching a video of an influencer reviewing, say, a lipstick. ![]() Payment is a natural step for Douyin, which has a growing e-commerce business. “The set-up of Douyin Pay (Douyin Zhifu) is to supplement the existing major payment options, and to ultimately enhance user experience on Douyin,” a Douyin spokesperson said. The short video app recently added “Douyin Pay” to its list of existing payment options, which have included Alipay and WeChat Pay. The latest entrant in online payments is Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese version. Tencent’s WeChat Pay and Alibaba’s affiliate Alipay have long dominated digital payments in China, but they have always faced new challengers.
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