Purported TikTok/WeChat Breach?
A rapid analysis to try and untangle a few things.
Dear Reader, here is the ‘bottom line, up front’:
An influence operation that centers TikTok as a cause of concern has re-emerged with new data and purveyors. Early reviews by independent security experts indicate that the dataset does not appear authentic in relation to claims made about it. Nevertheless, its purveyors have taken specific claims to connect TikTok and WeChat in this latest salvo against the Chinese Communist Party, seeking to employ unspecified concerns about data privacy and the public’s lack of awareness regarding the business of data as a geopolitical influence lever.
Ultimately, despite its massive reach, singling TikTok out for this behavior is unnecessarily hawkish behavior intended to inflame geopolitical tensions. The root causes of data collection are squarely within reach of U.S. regulators and policymakers; namely, national data privacy legislation, which would limit the ability of Big Tech platforms such as Google and Apple to continue enabling the ongoing wholesale theft of our private data via mobile platforms on which billions of users have come to rely.
So let’s break this down: what is the veracity of the dataset? Who are the actors and their goals? Does this issue reflect a growing trend? What seem to be the outcomes thus far?
