The Trump administration is a deal with the Chinese government in order to transfer Tiktok into American hands. Press Secretary of the White House Karolin Livitt said Fox News On Saturday, she was “100% sure that the deal was concluded” and that the data, confidentiality and application algorithm will be controlled by the American owner.
The transaction is the result of the bill, which the Congress adopted last year, based on fears that China collects user data of Americans and use a platform for observation and propaganda. But while many Americans celebrate a deal as a victory for rights to user confidentiality and national security, some experts in cybersecurity still have problems. They argue that the new structure of Tiktok, based on meager details that arose about the transaction, can open users for observation and influence not from China, but also the American government itself.
“Giving the government more authority to consider their own people or to make large data collections is not a very good thing,” says David Kennedy, cybersecurity expert and founder of TrustedSec and binary defense. “We just switch one government to another.”
Data safety
Although the deal has not yet been formalized, the White House set out several details in a statement on Monday received BloombergThe field at least 80% Tiktok US will belong to the American Consortium Investors led by Oracle, Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz. Trump said On Sunday, Fox News will probably participate Rupert Murdok and his son Lahlan. Baitedence, the original Chinese maternal company Tiktok, will retain a minority share. The data of 170 million users of the United States will be stored on Oracle Servers in Texas.
Read more: What users should know about Tiktok
The location of Tiktok data processing centers for many years was the main issue. Last year, the Ministry of Justice Approved This Tiktok kept the confidential data of US customers on Chinese servers. This would become a problem if the Chinese government took data and used it to find out about the American public and create a dossier for blackmail or espionage.
There is a tact disputed The accusation is that the government can gain access to user data, and that it collects more data than other social networks. In 2023, Director General Tiktok Shou Chew testifies Before the US Congress, “100 percent of US user traffic is sent to Oracle” and the American subsidiary Tiktok.
Cybersecurity experts say that Oracle supervision to consumer data in accordance with the new course is of great importance for causing some problems. “Now we have US rules that help protect American data,” says Dave Chronist, CEO of the company for providing cybersecurity parameters.
But Beijing has many other ways to access American data, including their purchase from data brokers. SAKS Sam, a senior researcher at New America, who specializes in Chinese technological policy, notes that before the ban, Tiktok was already in the process of strengthening the confidentiality of data through the Project Texas. This initiative proposed The protection of American user data in the American subsidiary was controlled by Oracle's Cloud and regularly third -party audits of the confidentiality and data security.
It is unclear how many of these proposals will be implemented in this new system. “All this within the framework of Project Texas was quite reliable: there was a separate organization for the source code inspection and individual cybersecurity firms that were involved,” says Sax. “Therefore, I would like to understand to what extent you have other independent checks.”
Observation
Another main concern of ByTedance critics was with the company’s algorithm itself and how China can own it for propaganda. (The Federal Court of Appeal wrote in December that the US government did not give any evidence Of these claims.) In 2020, the Chinese government signaled the importance of the algorithm when they Updated Rules for export management for covering confidential technologies, including a personalized Tiktok recommendations mechanism.
In this new course, Oracle will also translate the licensed version of the BYTEDANCE algorithm “from scratch” and “will work, re -process and constantly monitor the US algorithm in order to ensure the freedom of content from improper manipulation or observation,” the White House statement said.
Although the White House statement says that the new agreement will completely deprive any Chinese influence on the algorithm, it is unclear whether it is technically feasible. And there were conflicting reports about this program: one of the USA said Financial times Last week, “China preserves the algorithm.”
“The devil is in detail. If we can change it, this is one thing, ”says the chronist. “But if they allow it to be exported, and we use it as it is, it does not change anything. The cynical part of me says that with China is in order, because the algorithm will not change. ”
Some cybersecurity experts are worried that China will retain too much power in the framework of a new agreement. Others, however, are worried that the US government will have the right to control this new licensed algorithm and view user data – to identify its own fears, since Trump itself can theoretically affect what content raises the platform or is buried.
Many of the leaders of this new consortium have close ties with President Trump: Larry Ellison from Oracle organized a fundraiser for the president, while former leaders in Andreessen Gorovitz are now now Part White House. The son of Ellison, David, now controls one of the largest media companies in the world, Paramount Skydance, thanks to the recent confusion of Trump's FCC. In July Trump Stated He made a side transaction that brought him $ 20 million to his choice in their networks. Paramount challenged the claim.
And the new rules stipulate that the new Tiktok US Council must have one member appointed by the US government. All this makes the US government will have excessive power due to decision-making in Tiktok US (coincidence or not, the White House has just launched its Own Tiktok account Last month.)
“If the government wants to provide appropriate guarantees, then it must comply with state standards or federal laws on social networks, not have a specific government organization in the Council itself,” says Kennedy. “It seems to be a very poor separation of power and duty.”
Kennedy, a former HAC hacker, says that the US government is already constantly using social networks to examine the suspects, and is worried that these close ties will facilitate the government of the Tiktoka weapons. “All these data are very easy to obtain on its own, and then use it against your people,” he says.
Larry Ellison, for his part, approved this vision of the future: at the meeting of Oracle in 2024 he supposed The new era of AI observation, in which “we constantly sign up”, forcing the police and citizens “to be in their best behavior”.
Sacks also says that the transaction should be considered in a wider context of the trade relations of the United States and China. “Beijing knows that Trump really wanted to bring a victory home,” she says. “I think that now there are questions about the fact that Beijing seeks to extract tickts using green lighting.”
