How do you solve a problem like TikTok?
How do you solve a problem like TikTok?
Some thoughts ahead of Thursday’s hearing with the platform’s CEO, including new stats from his prepared testimony
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Tomorrow, it is the TikTok CEO’s turn to be in the Congressional hot seat, where he’ll sit down with the House Energy and Commerce Committee at 10 am Eastern.
I’ve been following the debate about TikTok closely, not just in the United States but around the world. Every day, it seems like the question of what to do about the platform gets harder, not easier. Let’s look at all the different angles of the debate, the proposed solutions, and how, in some ways, they present impossible tradeoffs.
First, I want to talk about Shou Chew’s prepared testimony. What strikes me overall about TikTok’s approach to Washington - and other capitals around the globe - is how much it follows the Facebook playbook circa 2017-2021.
Touting how many users they have in the US (150 million) and how many are small businesses (nearly 5 million). He points out that the average user today is an adult well past college age and that users in the United States represent 10 percent of their global community, and their voice accounts for 25 percent of the total views worldwide.
The long list of things they are building/doing to address concerns includes updating their community standards that include changes to how they handle synthetic media/AI-generated work, elections misinformation, and political ads not just by candidates but if those candidates pay influencers.
Putting numbers to how many people it has working on trust and safety. TikTok is the only company to do this other than Facebook. In his remarks, Chew says that more than 40,000 people globally work exclusively on trust and safety issues for TikTok and that in 2021, TikTok spent approximately $1 billion on trust and safety. Trust and safety represents their largest labor expense for TikTok’s U.S. operations.
Moreover, Chew tries to address head-on the criticisms he’s heard. He says they fall primarily into four categories:
Minor safety
Data privacy and security
Real-world harms from online activities, and
Risk of foreign content manipulation.
To those, he makes four promises:
We will keep safety—particularly for teenagers—a top priority for us;
We will firewall-protected U.S. user data from unauthorized foreign access;
TikTok will remain a platform for free expression and will not be manipulated by any government;
We will be transparent and give access to third-party independent monitors, to remain accountable for our commitments.
It’s quite a lot of work to prove that they are taking responsible steps to address what Congress and many governments worldwide are concerned about. Unfortunately, it won’t matter one bit for this hearing.
TikTok is in the unenviable position of having to prove a negative. Chew can say and do all he wants, but very few will believe him. However, that doesn’t mean a ban is around the corner. Let’s look at those dynamics:
National Security: This is the main reason anyone wants to ban the app - the concern is not just about the data the Chinese government might have access to but also about their potential ability to push Chinese propaganda to American citizens. Ahead of the hearing, Chew did a video on TikTok that was promptly criticized by some folks like Will Hurd, who says the video proves the concerns about a foreign official with access to data being able to influence people in the U.S. All I could think when I saw Hurd’s tweet is how in the world do we decide which executives, politicians, etc. get to push messages to people in other countries. Are we saying no social media executive can publish on their platform? That doesn’t seem right. Anyways, another topic for another newsletter …
U.S. Politics: This is where things get complicated. Last year, Pew announced that more Americans are getting their news on TikTok. The White House courted TikTok influencers. The Biden campaign is reportedly planning a digital strategy to organize content sharing between supporters since political advertising isn’t allowed (I wonder how they’ll navigate the ban on paying influencers). Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the quiet part out loud recently that a ban on TikTok could cause the Democrats to lose every voter under 35. The fact that Democrats want to use this app to campaign in 2024 is why I think the Biden administration will force them to sell before they are banned. Moreover, for all the GOP bluster, Punchbowl News recently reported that Speaker McCarthy and Rep. Scalise aren’t rushing to bring any TikTok bill to the floor.
Sidenote: The Wall Street Journal had a story yesterday about how TikTok trackers are embedded in U.S. state government websites. These are pixels that advertisers will put on their sites (nearly all the platforms have them) so that they can retarget people who visit their websites on those platforms. An interesting nuance to TikTok’s no political advertising rules is that it’s just for politicians and political parties. Says nothing about governments. I speak from experience when I say that it’s going to get really tricky for them to draw that line, and if they allow government ads, then they need to have an ad transparency center.
Geopolitics: One of the major initiatives TikTok touts is Project Texas - their effort to localize American data in the U.S. They’re doing the same in Europe. While I get the initial desire to do this, let’s play this out for a few steps. First, I’m no engineer, but I understand that separating out U.S. data is quite hard. How does it work when I engage with my friends overseas? If anyone has a good link/resource on this, let me know. Second, the larger platforms for years have cautioned about the risks of data localization and internet fragmentation. If TikTok succeeds, expect regulators to then turn to Meta, Google, Amazon, and others to tell them to do the same. This is going to lead to the need for more agreements between countries on data transfers, and these platforms becoming even more of a geo-political tool for countries. I could see more countries calling for platforms to be banned in addition to data needing to be localized. In some places, this could really put activists and others in harm's way.
Markets: Advertisers go where the eyeballs are - and that’s increasingly becoming TikTok. TikTok has been trying to ally advertiser concerns given all the banning talk happening in DC, and creators are contemplating life after a possible ban. In 2019, the NFL signed a multi-year deal with TikTok, and ESPN also works with the company. So it’s not surprising that earlier this year, members of Congress called on ESPN to cancel that partnership. Last week, Senators Rubio and Ernst introduced a bill to deny federal funds to anyone that partners with TikTok. Policymakers are going to be in a tough spot to try to convince all these entities that a ban is going to be in their best interest. Moreover, if they do ban TikTok, where are most of these folks likely to go? Instagram and YouTube. That doesn’t help much with the anti-trust efforts these same members are pushing.
Sidenote: Do you know who else might benefit from a TikTok ban? Reddit. According to Standard Media Index, advertising on the platform went up 31 percent in 2022 - partially due to a similar younger audience as TikTok.
Oversight: At the end of the day, the reason that nothing Chew says will mollify Members is that they can’t independently verify what TikTok is saying. For instance, Chew talks a lot about their commitment to transparency, but as my friend Brandon Silverman points out, TikTok has a long way to go to achieve meaningful transparency. I hope that Members ask some questions of Chew about what they need to build trust with him, but I don’t think that’s really any of their goals, so I’m not holding my breath. That is the conversation we need to be having more of, though - what the right oversight on these companies looks like.
This is a lot. There are many layers to this onion, and the more you peel it back, the more complicated it gets. A ban might not be the solution as many have been writing about. Some say what we really need is a federal privacy law because the data the Chinese could get through TikTok they can also get through third-party data brokers.
Moreover, TikTok is not the only app to be worried about. I only recently have seen people start to point out that CapCut - another Bytedance app - is an all-in-one video editor that has been downloaded more than TikTok in recent weeks.
Don’t expect tomorrow’s hearing to change the debate much on what to do about the problem that is TikTok, but do expect this debate to get more complicated.
What I’m Reading
Politico: Breton: Commission to go after Amazon, Spotify, Apple for violating the Digital Services Act
WSJ: Online Books Lawsuit Tests Limits of Libraries in Digital Age
New York Times: Man Behind Twitter Account That Spread Misinformation Goes on Trial
Wild West Newsletter: A Curious Distinction with No Basis - Why a Seattle judge poked a new hole in Section 230, and why Meta’s appealing.
Euractiv: German parties accused of breaching data protection rules
Tech Policy Press: Comparing Platform Research API Requirements
Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE): Access to data and algorithms for an effective DMA and DSA implementation
Cyberbullying Research Center: Teens’ View of Social Media: 2023
CA Assemblymember Buffy Wicks: Assemblymember Wicks Authors Bill to Make Big Tech Pay Usage Fees for News
Twitter/Sprinklr: Identify Toxic Content with Leading Analytical AI
Calendar
Topics to keep an eye on:
Facebook 2020 election research
TV shows about Facebook - Doomsday Machine and second season of Super Pumped
March 23, 2023: TikTok CEO Congressional Hearing
March 23, 2023 - Dead line for companies to have to comply with Jordan subpoena
March 20 - 24, 2023: Mozilla Fest
March 29 - 30, 2023: Summit for Democracy
March 29, 2023 - Bipartisan Policy Center: Demystifying the Cambridge Analytica Scandal Five Years Later
March 29, 2023 - Axios: What’s Next Summit
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan is speaking
March 2023 - Antigua and Barbuda Election
March 2023 - Federated States of Micronesia Election
March 2023 - Guinea Bissau Election
April 30, 2023 - Benin Election
April 30, 2023 - Paraguay Election
April 2023 - Andorra Election
April 2023 - Finland Election
April 2023 - Montenegro Election
May 7, 2023 - Thailand Election
May 10 - 12, 2023 - All Things in Moderation Conference
May 15-16: Copenhagen Democracy Summit
June 5-9: RightsCon
June 24 - June 30: Aspen Ideas Festival
June 24, 2023 - Sierra Leone Election
June 25, 2023 - Guatemala Election
June 25, 2023 -Turkey Election
TBD June: DFR Lab 360/OS
July 11-13, 2023 - TrustCon
July 2023 - Cambodia Election
July 2023 - Timor-Leste Election
July 2023 - Zimbabwe Election
August 6, 2023 - Greece Election
August 2023 - Eswatini Election
August 2023 - First GOP Presidential Primary Debate
September 27-29, 2023: Athens Democracy Forum
TBD September: Atlantic Festival
TBD September: Unfinished Live
September 2023 - Mauritania Election
September 28-29, 2023 - Trust & Safety Research Conference
October 8 - 12: Internet Governance Forum - Japan
October 10, 2023 - Liberia Election
October 12, 2023 - Pakistan Election
October 14, 2023 - New Zealand Election
October 22, 2023 - Switzerland Election
October 2023 - Argentina Election
October 2023 - Luxembourg Election
October 2023 - Oman Election
November 12, 2023 - Poland Election
November 20, 2023 - Marshall Islands Election
November 29, 2023 - Ukraine Election
November 2023 - Bhutan Election
November 2023 - Gabon Election
November 2023 - Rwanda Election
December 10, 2023 - Spain Election
December 2023 - Bangladesh Election
December 2023 - Democratic Republic of the Congo Election
December 2023 - Togo Election
TBD - Belarus Election
TBD - Cuba Election
TBD - Equatorial Guinea Election
TBD - Guinea Election
TBD - Madagascar Election
TBD - Maldives Election
TBD - Myanmar Election
TBD - Singapore Election
TBD - South Sudan Election - (Unlikely to happen)
TBD - Turkmenistan Election
TBD - Tuvalu
TBD - Haiti
July 15-18, 2024 - Republican National Convention