TikTok Transparency Report: Zero Takedown Requests from China

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Chinese regime have however to request that TikTok remove content from its platform, or ask for information about a specific user, according to a recently released transparency report published by the company.

According to the written report, which covers the first half of 2022, the vast majority of requests came from India and the United states. In the instance of India, there were 107 requests pertaining to 143 accounts and TikTok gave authorities in the country data on 47% of the requests. For the U.s., there were 79 requests related to 255 accounts, and TikTok provided authorities with details on 86% of their requests.

"TikTok is committed to assisting police force enforcement in advisable circumstances while at the same fourth dimension respecting the privacy and rights of our users," Eric Ebenstein, TikTok'due south head of public policy, wrote in a blog mail. "In balancing our responsibilities to police force enforcement with our respect for the privacy of our users, nosotros respond just to legally valid requests and just with the requisite amount of information needed."

Absent from this list is China, but it should be noted that TikTok doesn't operate in China per se; the Chinese version of the app is called Douyin and is run equally a separate organization. TikTok takes care to note in its written report that "we did non receive whatsoever requests from countries other than those listed in the chart below."

Despite the duality of TikTok, with its divide versions for China and for those abroad, there are still concerns that it could still be a conduit for Beijing's soft power -- blocking letters and imagery that are harmful to China's interests. For example, in September, a study fromThe Washington Post alleged TikTok was censoring content related to the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. While a search of the terms "Hong Kong" on Twitter, or other relevant hashtags, would bring up a library of material about the protests this isn't the instance on TikTok.

TikTok'due south parent, ByteDance, appears to exist aware of the risks to privacy that operating in China poses. The visitor is said to be looking at Singapore, Dublin, and London every bit potential new corporate homes. ByteDance also established an Irish subsidiary, TikTok Technology Ltd, last twelvemonth and is actively recruiting for a number of roles in Dublin.

During the past few months, it has been on a PR offensive to help build confidence in its ability to protect user information. The head of TikTok, Alex Zhu, recently stated in an interview that it would non delete user videos at the request of China and non-Chinese data was stored in either Singapore or the US.

"Users perceive TikTok as a platform for memes, for lip-syncing, for dancing, for mode, for animals — but not so much for political discussion," Zhu is quoted as proverb. "For political content that still aligns with this creative and joyful feel, I don't see why we should command information technology."

Speaking to The Wall Street Periodical (in Nov) a ByteDance source said: "The Chinese government has never asked united states to provide access to any TikTok Us user data, and we would non do and then if asked."

TikTok says information technology will release another transparency report, covering the 2d one-half of the twelvemonth, in the coming months.