The TikTok phenomenon continues unstoppable. In a few years, the famous social network has experienced enormous growth which has allowed it to sneak into on the podium of the most active applications worldwide by exceeding 1,000 million users.

“TikTok has become a beloved part of people’s lives around the world thanks to the creativity and authenticity of our creators,” the Chinese company itself said in a press release celebrating the internal record. “Over a billion people around the world visit TikTok every month to be entertained while learning, laughing or discovering something new,” they added.

However, since last December, data protection and user security of this social network have been put on the table. The main reason: a possible leak of information from the company to the Chinese government, which is viewed with suspicion in some countries.

The United States is part of it. At the beginning of January, the House of Representatives banned the use of the application to all its employees for security reasons. Now, months later, it goes further. Republicans and Democrats agree to pass a law prohibiting the application to the entire population. It would be the first time in history that something similar had happened and, if successful, would affect some 140 million Americans.

In this same line, Community bodies of the European Union They agreed to the permanent ban on TikTok and set a deadline to ban the app from their workers’ devices. In all? Yes, both for companies and for individuals who can be connected to the official mobile network of these institutions.

Is there a data leak?

In recent months, TikTok has been accused of handing over the data of its users, including senior officials around the world, to the Xi Jinping executive, who made challenge cybersecurity the company.

“Troublingly, TikTok collects vast amounts of data, much of which has no legitimate connection to the app’s supposed purpose of sharing videos. The use of TikTok creates an unacceptable vulnerability for the operations of Chinese infiltration,” the Alabama governor said.

The application would contribute to espionage, according to some voices, by geolocation, the camera, the microphone or even the theft of confidential information, something which since the address of the Chinese social network denies totally.

TikTok’s response to the ban

Following the announcement by the European Commission (EC), which thus joins Canada and in the United States, the company defended its privacy policy, completely denied the transfer of data to third parties, in particular to China, and put on the table global tensions it’s been going on for a few months.

“We have not provided data to the Chinese government and the Chinese government has never asked us for data. If he does, we will say no.. We follow what the laws say and comply with all privacy regulations,” said Lev Mannheimer, director of institutional relations at Tiktok. “We understand that there are geopolitical tensions in the world right now, but we are a company and we would not want to be in the middle of this tension, which we truly believe is not our responsibility.”

And it went further. The spokesperson rejected the veto of international institutions and announced that the company contacted the European institutions in order to clarify their data protection and IT security policies (without obtaining an answer for the moment).

In addition, he filed a complaint against the EC and ensured that this ad is “non-European” and “unrealistic”: “It is a unilateral decision which seems based on prejudice; a method which seems anti-European to us. We have always been open to dialogue and we will continue to be so. We hope to find the same approach on the other side .”

What do the experts think?

Tiktok’s response, assures the director of the ADSL Zone, Javier Sanzwas the ‘Project Clover’ (also known as the clover project) with which the social network intends to strengthen the data protection of European users.

What is it really about? “On opening data centers in Norway and Ireland to tell European authorities”Hey, don’t worry, the data is safe because it’s on European servers subject to the General Data Protection Regulation‘“, explains this cybersecurity expert.

Regarding the US proposal to ban the use of the application throughout the country, Sanz believes that the country “could override the right of veto against Chinese companies”, but he assures that he understands that the American authorities “want protect their safety, as well as consumers and users, just in case”.

Despite this, the director of ADSL Zone believes that our data is safe and that TikTok is collaborating with European authorities: “The result of this is the project they have to invest in data centers in Europe (…) I think we can continue to use the application.”

On the other hand, Juan Gualberto Gutíerrez, professor at the University of Jaén, describes this decision by the European Commission as “logical” and “preventive” and equates TikTok with other apps like Facebook.

“When you agree to the deal and sign up for TikTok, you give all your data to the company,” he points out. “It’s exactly the best with popular US apps when it comes to privacy. So the information it collects about users is just as abusive as the one collected by Meta“.