Belgium, Denmark and the European Commission ban officials from using TikTok, citing the example of the United States.

This prohibition lacks any foundation, but it is far from innocuous.

It is imposed in the framework of the new Cold War against China.

Is war fever taking over us?

The different governments of Belgium ban TikTok.

Officials can no longer use the application.

According to the relevant ministers, the app should even be removed from all mobile phones used professionally in government departments.

TikTok is very popular among young people.

It is a platform that distributes short and light-hearted videos.

At first it was mostly about viral dances, but it quickly became a major news source for young people.

In the United States almost one hundred million people use the application.

The popular video app has been in the spotlight for some time.

There is pressure in Europe to ban it, and in Canada and the United States officials have long since been banned from using the app and there is even talk in the Senate of a national ban.

Two reasons are given to ban the app.

TikTok could collect massive data from Western users.

Furthermore, the platform could be used for propaganda purposes.

It is feared that ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, may be forced to cooperate with the Chinese government.

without foundation

The measures are without foundation for several reasons.

First of all, it is obvious that senior officials do not leave sensitive information on their mobile phones or PCs.

But that does not depend on an application.

Sensitive information is protected by encrypting it, not allowing or eliminating this or that application.

In this context, it is significant that Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter and Defense Minister (!) Ludivine Dedonder of Belgium will continue to use TikTok.

Secondly, for any application to work in Europe today, it must comply with the privacy protection regulations, better known by the English acronym GDPR.

There is no 100% guarantee, but in that regard, TikTok is just as safe as other apps.

Ethical hacker Baptiste Robert observes: “As far as we can see, in its current state, TikTok does not display any suspicious behavior and does not release any unusual data.

Getting data on the user's device is quite common in the mobile world and we would get similar results with Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and others."

And yes, it has been shown in the past that TikTok has violated the privacy of certain journalists.

But the same thing happens, even to a worse extent, with other applications.

In other countries the intelligence agencies will also do their job.

In 2020 it was revealed that Israeli intelligence was spying via whatsapp.

Thirdly, the Belgian State Security has not yet been able to identify any cases of espionage through TikTok.

In any case, the app does not contain any explicit spyware.

After all, the Chinese government doesn't need such an app to spy on.

If you want to do it, you'll use something different and more sophisticated than just a hot air balloon or a funny video app.

The real problem is not in espionage.

It's about privacy.

There is no doubt that TikTok collects a lot of information about users.

But are not the only ones.

Apps like Facebook and Instagram, and many other seemingly innocuous ones, collect data and sell it to data brokers who, in turn, sell it to companies that can profit from this treasure trove of data.

In an article published in Foreign Policy, two professors explain it this way:

“If we want to address the real problem, we need to pass serious privacy laws and not put on a theater about security.

These laws are necessary to prevent our data from being collected, analyzed and sold by anyone.

Such laws would protect us in the long run and not just from the week's enforcement."

the real reasons

The real reasons for the TikTok ban have nothing to do with espionage or security, but rather reside elsewhere.

A first reason is of a commercial nature.

TikTok has managed to break the monopoly of its American competitors.

These are Alphabet (Youtube) and Meta (Facebook and Instagram).

Last year they made huge profits, $279 billion and $117 billion respectively.

Recently, the well-known rapper and actor Snoop Dogg signed an exclusivity agreement with TikTok and not with Spotify or the Apple Store.

Given the huge profit potential, the stakes are high.

And they don't like to see those profit opportunities being lost in the United States.

A second reason is geopolitical

.

In the eyes of the United States, China is increasingly becoming a threat and a malevolent power.

One only has to think of the hysteria around the hot air balloon and the rise in war rhetoric around the Taiwan issue.

We are in a new Cold War.

The United States has built a military fence around China.

Washington is also increasingly establishing military alliances with countries in the region.

It seems that the United States is rushing to prepare for an armed conflict with China.

Graphic: The dots are military bases.

The arrows are intended range missiles.

All the fuss around TikTok serves to develop or reinforce an enemy image of China.

To participate in military conflicts it is important to have public opinion.

The ban on TikTok falls within this context and is far from being an innocent matter.

Once again, Europe and Belgium follow perfectly in the footsteps of the big brother.

For sinologist Rogier Creemers, who teaches at Leiden University, the ban on TikTok on civil servants' service phones is like a symbolic policy.

"In this, we follow the United States, where everything to do with China is currently demonic."

When will we in Europe finally manage to chart our own course, based on common sense and not intoxicated by war fever?

It seems one of the most important challenges we face in these times of war.

(Original source: https://www.dewereldmorgen.be/artikel/2023/03/10/waarom-de-hysterie-rond-tiktok-verre-van-onschuldig-is/. Taken from Rebellion)