TikTok U.S. Prompts Users to Allow More Permissive Tracking, Advertising ⇥ wired.com

The TikTok deal announced in December is done. There is now a U.S.-specific version of the app running the same recommendations algorithm as the rest-of-the-world version but trained only on a bald eagle-approved data set. The U.S. app is owned by a bunch of friends of the family who bought it at a suspiciously low price. Oh, and users now have a more invasive privacy policy to contend with.

Reece Rogers, Wired:

Now that it’s under US-based ownership, TikTok potentially collects more detailed information about its users, including precise location data. A spokesperson for TikTok USDS declined to comment.

Whether this represents an actual change in the data collected or merely a difference in description is something it seems Rogers cannot answer. However, it is a good reminder that lawmakers’ opposition to TikTok’s data collection was never based on a principled stance on user privacy.

This may be U.S.-only for now, but I am deeply concerned about the precedent it sets for the rest of the world. There is nothing I can see that limits the scope of the new U.S. app to only U.S.-based users. In the near term, I bet a few other countries could be pressured into switching to TikTok U.S.; farther into the future, what this looks like is an acknowledgement that the U.S. will take what it needs with whatever justification it wishes.