Good morning. Last year, TikTok was the most downloaded app in the world. It has a reported user base of more than a billion people and remains the fastest-growing social media platform since 2020. But now a succession of countries have banned it from government devices – with the UK announcing late last week it will join the US, the EU and New Zealand in imposing controls.
Whether or not you actually use it, TikTok’s ubiquity has meant that many of us engage with video content that has originated from the app as it migrates across other platforms. Beyond the general criticisms aimed at TikTok – its addictive nature, its mysterious algorithm, its “shoppertainment” model – the Chinese-owned social media company has attracted a lot of attention from western governments who cite the app as a security issue.
Despite its insistence that user data is safe, TikTok has been unable to assuage suspicions that have been brewing since its popularity exploded five years ago. Government officials in the west have maintained that its ownership by Chinese tech giant ByteDance puts sensitive user data at risk of being accessed by the Chinese government. And as geopolitical tensions between China and the US continue to grow, TikTok has found itself in the firing line.
This shift could have huge repercussions for the social media giant – yesterday, it was reported that the BBC has urged its staff to delete the app from their corporate mobile phones, and no ones knows who else might follow suit. I spoke to the Guardian’s global technology editor, Dan Milmo, about why TikTok has climbed to the top of the security agenda. That’s right after the headlines.
Five big stories
Police | The leader of Britain’s police chiefs, Martin Hewitt, has said the Metropolitan Police has no “God-given right” to exist in its current size if it cannot regain public trust that has rapidly deteriorated after a series of scandals. Hewitt, who is retiring after three decades in policing, has said it would take years for the force to regain the confidence of the public.
Strikes | A cross-union group comprised of members from Britain’s biggest health unions are organising a campaign to reject the 5% pay increase being recommended by union leaders because it was well below inflation.
Climate crisis | Fiame Naomi Mata’af, the prime minister of Samoa, has issued a desperate plea for action ahead of a landmark IPCC report that is expected to issue a scientific “final warning” on the climate emergency. “There are already examples in the Pacific of communities, whole communities, that have relocated to different countries,” she said. “They’re really having to address issues of sovereignty through loss of land.”
Russia-China ties | Vladimir Putin has praised Xi Jinping as a “good old friend” in an article published in China on the eve of a state visit to Moscow by the Chinese president, his first since the invasion of Ukraine.
Emergency services | The government has launched a new public warning system where siren-like alerts will be sent to mobile phones about events that may put life in danger, such as severe flooding, wildfires or extreme weather. The Cabinet Office is planning a nationwide trial next month.
In depth: ‘TikTok aggressively harvests your data – but that’s pretty generic social media behaviour’
The US government has made its stance clear: Beijing-based ByteDance, TikTok’s owners, have to divest their stakes in the company or the video-sharing platform risks being banned from the country altogether. It is a dramatic escalation in the back and forth that has been happening between TikTok and the US government. But how much of this is really about TikTok? And what will happen next?
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What actually is the security risk?
So far, there’s no hard evidence to suggest that TikTok has been asked to hand over user data to the Chinese state or that it is manipulating its algorithm to push pro-Chinese propaganda.
Dan points out that its practices so far seem to be no different to any other social media platform: “The overarching debate about TikTok is that it aggressively harvests your data, your location, your likes etc. But that’s pretty generic social media behaviour – on a basic level it’s no different to anyone else.” This is not to say that the fears are completely unfounded: ByteDance itself admitted that employees used their own app to spy on reporters in an attempt to track down the journalists’ sources, severely damaging TikTok’s credibility.
TikTok has also unveiled security plans in Europe and the US that will cost the company €1.2bn and $1.5bn respectively to convince western governments that it is protecting user data. All data of American users, for instance, would be stored within the US, or in Norway and Ireland for those accessing the app in Europe. Critics however are unconvinced that this is enough, saying that ultimately ByteDance has to comply with demands from the Chinese government.
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How likely is a sale?
TikTok’s outsized cultural influence, paired with its highly engaged and growing user base means that it is a tremendous asset. However, Dan points out that selling still wouldn’t necessarily be smooth sailing.
“There is an assumption among some experts in the field that the Chinese state will seek to block a divestment of TikTok from its Chinese owners because it owns precious IP [intellectual property] like its famed recommendation algorithm that makes its For You feed such a compelling experience,” Dan explains. Buying TikTok or a significant chunk of it would come with a lot of baggage and complex, unanswered questions about how exactly it could entirely unravel itself from ByteDance.
Also, at a potential price of over $50bn for the US business alone, finding buyers that have pockets deep enough will be difficult. Companies like Snap would struggle to take that on, and there would be big antitrust concerns for any social media buyer. Microsoft and Oracle were potential suitors when Donald Trump’s administration first tried to force through a sale of TikTok US in 2020, but that process was derailed amid successful legal challenges from TikTok. And with the Chinese government in the background too, a sale could be messy.
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Will there be a nationwide ban?
Rishi Sunak has set out what the UK intends to do about TikTok: copy everyone else. In this case, the British government seems happy to follow the example of its allies. “Quite clearly what the government announced this week was related to what the United States, Canada, Belgium and the European Commission has done,” Dan says. The logical next step is that if the US is able to follow through with its threats that the UK would follow in its footsteps.
But a nationwide ban is a very big leap from banning civil servants and politicians from using the app on government phones. It’s become a staple part of many people’s social media diet and “an increasing number of people’s livelihoods depend on TikTok as creators, [so] moving to ban that entirely is quite a big step and I don’t think we’re there yet,” Dan says.
It is also important to note that the question of banning TikTok in the US is not legally settled. While there is bipartisan political consensus, TikTok has previously been able to ward off pressure from the White House. “They successfully sued Donald Trump’s attempts to ban the app in the US, so there already is a precedent of legal defence there, which would make it quite difficult for Biden.”
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TikTok becomes more open
TikTok’s transition from cultural phenomenon to geopolitical pariah is a symbol of the hardening relationship between the US, the west more broadly, and China. The spy balloons saga, rising tensions over Taiwan and China’s relationship with Russia has meant that TikTok is merely the latest site of contention about a much larger issue than a video-sharing app.
But, TikTok has responded to its changing position, deciding it is time to come out of the shadows. “It’s suddenly become a much more public facing company. Its executives talk to journalists a lot more and it’s been making a lot more appearances in front of politicians on both sides of the Atlantic to try to state its case,” Dan says. Whether this is enough is yet to be seen.
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What’s next?
It’s unlikely that this hostility will stop at TikTok. Other Chinese tech firms and products are likely in the crosshairs of western politicians, says Dan. “So the obvious question is who’s next? Because either way it seems like this is about China, not TikTok.”
What else we’ve been reading
It has been two decades since the UK and the US invaded Iraq, marking the start of a long, bloody war that was “based on flawed intelligence, months of lying to the world, and a casual disregard for international law”, write Emma Graham-Harrison and Salim Habib. In this sobering piece, Graham-Harrison and Habib spoke to five Iraqis about how the war changed their lives. Nimo
You’ve heard of quiet quitting, but how about doing the opposite? Emma Beddington writes about the latest workplace trend for career committing – aka happily taking on more work – and asks whether it might be a safer bet than taking your foot off the gas. Hannah J Davies, deputy editor, newsletters
Across the country, tenants have been complaining about the deteriorating conditions of their homes, with mould and damp making life unbearable for many people. Andrew Kersley went to a council building in Hackney and spoke to the residents about the alarming levels of decay in their homes: “It feels like this infection taking over your home. It’s as if it’s not yours any more – the mould owns it,” one resident told Kersley. Nimo
A useful guide from Dazed on what to do if a loved one has become a conspiracy theorist, though be warned: “there’s no quick trick to coax someone out of a rabbit hole”. Hannah
John Harris is incisive in his piece about the growing demise of the dance floor. As more and more clubs close their doors, we lose something profound: spaces where people can gather to dance together. Nimo
Sport
Football | Bruno Fernandes’s added-time goal for Manchester United crowned a scintillating comeback after a close‑to-surreal passage that featured three red cards in 40 seconds for Fulham: manager Marco Silva plus Aleksandar Mitrovic and Willian.
Rugby | Ireland won their fourth Six Nations grand slam in Dublin, beating England 29-16. The victory has turbocharged the team, with Johnny Sexton saying that their sights are now set on the World Cup. “This is a high point, but I hope it’s not the highest point,” Sexton said.
Skiing | Mikaela Shiffrin won her record-extending 21st giant slalom at the World Cup finals. Shiffrin’s 2,206 World Cup points tally is the second-highest in history but the 28-year-old American says, “It doesn’t matter about records, it’s just you want to do well.”
The front pages
Plenty of variety today. The Guardian leads with the latest on the NHS pay row, with the headline: “Health union members in push to reject NHS pay deal”. The Times looks ahead to Baroness Casey’s policing report saying “‘Toxic’ Met faces being broken up”. The Telegraph leads on the sale of Credit Suisse, as does the FT. The Mirror has an interview with Ruthie Henshall about preventing another Covid-era care home crisis. The Mail and Express both report with varying degrees of confidence about European judges being set to drop objections to the UK’s offshore immigration plans. The i and Metro focus on the imminent release of Boris Johnson’s Partygate dossier.
Today in Focus
The accidental journalist who covered the war in Iraq
Twenty years on from the invasion of Iraq, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad and James Meek describe their chance first meeting and their time reporting on the war together.
Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Former mental health worker Mac McKechnie is the subject of the latest piece in the Guardian’s “A new start after 60” series. At the age of 66, McKechnie, from Wakefield in Yorkshire, was preparing for an action-packed retirement filled with travelling and hobbies, when he became seriously ill with sepsis. While recovering, his doctor advised him to work on his fitness, leading McKechnie to invent walking cricket, a more accessible version of the sport. “It had to be totally inclusive and include women as well,” he said. “I didn’t want to go down the line of using protective equipment because expense is a big factor – we’re all retired and on pensions.”
As well as helping people get fit, his aim was to create a game that would improve players’ mental health and offer opportunities for social contact. In 2019 at the age of 68, McKechnie played his first game of walking cricket. “People just seemed to love it. It was an immediate hit,” he adds. “I thought: ‘This has got legs!’”
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Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
