Even though TikTok was only launched in 2017 it has been recognised as the seventh most downloaded app of the 2010s and was downloaded a whopping 850 million times in 2020 alone. The app was however banned by President Donald Trump in the United States during August 2020 due to national security concerns. The main issue raised by US politicians with TikTok at the time, was that the Chinese government could, conceivably, access any American data held by the company, and that the app could be used to breach US secrecy and privacy structures.
As reported recently by Reuters, rumours have begun circulating that the ban might soon be lifted in the USA as a result of a data storage deal that the Chinese creators of the app might enter into with the Oracle Corporation. One of the up shots of such a deal is that it could possibly address both concerns with the app raised above, because the data storage and accompanying security will then be handled by a US company.
Another possible consequence of such a deal could be that other governments could then also start insisting on deals where data from US-owned apps should be stored locally, something that could then lead to privacy risks, reduced performance and incurrence of compliance costs. However, fair competition without government interference could on the other hand allow US companies to compete on a more level playing field in Asia and Europe.
It will be interesting to observe in coming times how such a deal (if allowed to be concluded) could firstly influence TikTok’s ability to compete with other social media networks, and secondly what kind of precedence this may create for other governments to insist on similar deals for local data storage, something that could possibly significantly change the social media landscape the global market has become used to.
