There’s often a lot of change within the mobile scene especially when it comes to what apps are popular and what is fading into obscurity – however recent news has come around one of the biggest apps in recent memory in TikTok – the video sharing social media app. It came around as a sort of pseudo-replacement to Vine, and has really found a huge fan base amongst a growing demographic as many can now find their favourite celebrities and influencers on the platform, but it has also recently come under fire.
Some clever sleuths had recently done a deep dive into TikTok’s code and the way it operates and didn’t have the best things to say about the huge Chinese viral video giant suggesting that it may be more akin to spyware and that the way it handled user data wasn’t entirely the safest – with the immediate comment being to ‘delete TikTok now’. This has led to an instant reaction for some, perhaps the first being in India as the country announced a ban for TikTok along with 58 other Chinese apps, signalling the end for the app in one of its biggest markets. An announcement recently also suggested that the same may become true in the US as privacy continues to become a growing concern for many in the digital age.
(Image from news18.com)
It isn’t the first time we’ve seen big adjustments in mobile platforms – in fact we’ve recently seen another big change for mobile gaming as a whole as further changes to anti-gambling initiatives such as Gamstop in the UK has led many operators to change where they’re located to skirt around the restrictions such as these poker sites found here, this change also coming alongside a recent ban on credit card betting too – but this could be the first big change that sees an entire range of apps being banned from various application marketplaces completely.
It does pose the question too – could the ban of TikTok in some of its biggest markets spur further changes and see other applications banned? For most, many of the privacy concerns are little more than a fleeting worry and for most of us we don’t look too far into the permissions given to different apps and what they actually do, however if this recent controversy is to move further as it looks like it is then it may encourage others to take a deeper look into many of the more popular and commonly used apps to see if any are doing the same, if it’s found that it may be a larger problem that previously though it could lead to a large chain of applications being banned or boycotted, and also a change in regulation for how many are developed and accepted. This change could set a precedent moving forward for mobile apps as a whole – if you’d like to make sure you’re staying safe and that your data isn’t being mishandled, it may be worth following the story further and discovery just what information your commonly used applications take – you may be surprised at the results you find.