With live broadcasts made by users and money earned from the platform, the video sharing app of Chinese origin TikTok is on the agenda.

Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs Ali Yerlikaya said that in the last six months, 13 account managers were arrested for sharing posts on TikTok.

Huseyn Yayman, chairman of the Digital Media Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, during the live broadcast of "A Haber" claimed that TikTok has been banned in many European countries:

"We, as the Digital Media Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, will call the Eurasian representative of TikTok, which has caused complaints from all our nation, on December 7, and our commission members will ask him questions."

The concern of countries about TikTok is not new. Many countries, including European ones, have imposed various restrictions, especially due to security concerns about the platform.

Belgium, the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, France and Norway have banned TikTok. However, these countries have only banned the use of TikTok on government officials' government-issued phones. A common reason for bans is concern that the app poses a threat to cybersecurity. However, on February 23, 2023, the officials of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, three important bodies of the European Union, banned using TikTok on their service phones issued by the EU. Moreover, the European Union has asked its employees to remove the application from their personal phones as well. reference

In other words, TikTok is not completely banned in these countries.

The US, Canada and New Zealand are among the countries that have banned the use of TikTok on the phones of government officials for similar reasons. In fact, a proposal to completely ban TikTok in the US was put forward, but it was rejected on March 30, 2023.

On the other hand, the TikTok debate in the US has been going on for a long time. TikTok was investigated in the US in 2019 due to national security concerns. In 2020, the former president of the US, Donald Trump, actually started a "war" with TikTok. source

Trump has announced that he will ban the application if TikTok operations in the US are not sold to a company based in the country. In fact, since TikTok continues to operate in China-based ByteDance, various restrictions have begun to be applied in the US. Along with restrictions on government officials' use of the app, Montana has become the first state to ban the use of TikTok on personal devices.

Another issue raised about the app in the US is concern that content on TikTok has the potential to shape public opinion in the interests of the Chinese Communist Party.

India and Taiwan have banned many other Chinese software, including TikTok, on national security grounds.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are among the countries that have banned TikTok to prevent young people from "losing their way" on the grounds that the platform spreads immoral content.

Reasons for concern

The main reason governments are concerned about TikTok is that its owner, ByteDance, is located in China. It is a concern that under Chinese law, the government can request internal information from a company if necessary. Concerns that the platform's content recommendations could be used to spread false information are among the reasons for the bans. reference

Like all other social media platforms, TikTok stores the data of its users. According to Robin Kaplan of the Institute for Information and Social Research, the amount of data the platform stores is not the same as other social media platforms. This is another reason to worry about the app.

What is the platform's response?

The platform has declared its complete independence from the Chinese government since the first days of investigations and bans against it. The company also states that the reasons for these bans have not been proven. TikTok officials are also calling on governments to cooperate on cybersecurity.

TikTok spokesman Brooke Oberwetter said of the restrictions: "If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn't solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access."

Oberwetter says the strong third-party monitoring, review and verification already in place, as well as transparent, US-centric protection of American user data and systems, will be enough to allay concerns.

TikTok released a statement under the title "Myths vs. Facts" about the platform to clarify the questions of governments and users. The platform has responded to allegations that it shares information with China, that ByteDance has Chinese government officials on its board, and that administrative decisions regarding TikTok are made by Beijing.

Conclusion:

- In European countries, TikTok is not completely banned, public employees and public officials are prohibited from using TikTok on their phones provided by the state;

- The main reason for this restriction applied in Europe is the country's cyber security concerns;

- The use of TikTok on phones provided to government officials is also prohibited in the US, Canada and New Zealand;

- In India and Taiwan, many Chinese software, including TikTok, are completely banned due to national security reasons;

- Afghanistan and Pakistan are among the countries that have banned the application due to the sharing of immoral content.