Reuters reports that the U.S. Navy has banned the popular TikTok app from government issues devices out of security concerns. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company and there are concerns that the company could be turning over data to the Chinese government. U.S. TikTok officials have said that all data from U.S. users in stored on servers in the U.S. and in Singapore and not in China, but a number of security experts have expressed concern.
The following is from ConnectSafely’s Parents Guide to TikTok
TikTok is an app that gives users the opportunity to create and share short-form videos with friends, family, and the entire world. The app is especially popular with young people, who enjoy using its tools to combine video, music, and graphics into funny sketches and creative shorts. TikTok is available in over 150 countries and in 75 languages. TikTok runs on both Apple and Android phones and tablets and has selected a 12+ rating on the Apple App Store and Google Play so that parents can use the device-level parental controls provided by Apple and Android.
The app brings some of teenagers’ favorite things—social media and music—together on a platform where they can have fun creating content and interacting with their friends. The app’s users emphasize quirkiness and novelty, and in that respect TikTok is helping expand the creative frontier of the internet.
Read the entire Parents Guide to TikTok at ConnectSafely.org
Read or print a one-page Quick-Guide to TikTok
Disclosure: Larry Magid is CEO of ConnectSafely which has received financial support from TikTok