TikTok now specifically tracks immigration status and gender identity – AV Club

Another
day,
another
terms-of-service
update.
It
happens
all
the
time.
But
a
few
days
ago,
after

President
Donald
Trump’s
long-awaited
TikTok
sale
finally
went
through,
the
TikTok
USDS
Joint
Venture’s

first
terms-of-service
update
made
its
way
through
the
birth
canal
and
onto
phones
across
America.
Headed
by
81-year-old
Larry
Ellison,
the
owner
of
Oracle,

an
entire
Hawaiian
island,
a
fighter
jet,
and
a
close
confidant
of
Trump,
the
new
owners
purchased
the
company
for
$14
billion.
The
purchase
prevents
the
app
from
being
banned
over
concerns
of
the
Chinese
government
tracking
American
citizens
and
using
data
to
pump
the
non-patriotic
form
of
propaganda.
In
addition
to
the
massive
amounts
of
domestic
propaganda
that
will
undoubtedly
make
its
way
to
the
platform,
the
private
equity
firm
Silver
Lake
is
getting
a
slice.
So
is
the
Abu
Dhabi-based
AI
company,
MGX,
which
will
walk
away
with
a
15%
stake
in
a
company
that
had
to
be
sold
due
to
concerns
that
American
data
is
in
the
control
of
a
foreign
entity.
But
we
digress.
What’s
really
important
is
what
they
bought
it
for.
According
to
Dr.
Jess
Maddox,
an
associate
professor
at
the
University
of
Georgia
and
social
media
researcher,
the
updates
give
us
a
picture
of
what
they’re
after,
and
it’s
pretty
alarming.
As
stated
in
the
new
terms
and
conditions,
TikTok
now
specifically
tracks
data
related
to
users’
immigration
status
and
gender
identity,
which
is
an
especially
worrying
addition
given
the
close
proximity
between
the
new
owners
and
an
administration
hostile
toward
marginalized
groups.

Part
of
Dr.
Maddox’s
research
involves
studying
documents
such
as
privacy
policies
and
terms
of
service
to
examine
“how
values
were
communicated”
to
stakeholders,
regulators,
and
audiences.
“What
matters
to
platforms?
What
they’re
interested
in
is
obviously
going
to
be
given
precedence
and
highlighted
is
important
in
those
documents,”
Dr.
Maddox
told

The
A.V.
Club
by
phone.
What
she
found
in
a
2018
study
was
that
“community
is
a
way
that
platforms
sell
themselves.”
So,
when
the
government
banned
TikTok
for
12
hours,
the
loss
of
community
was
the
main
narrative
about
the
ban’s
adverse
effects
on
users.
“As
social
media
companies
face
immense
scrutiny
and
calls
for
regulation
and
get
dragged
up
to
the
hill
in
front
of
Congress,”
Maddox
says,
“they
have
to
sell
themselves
in
such
a
way,
and
being
able
to
rely
on
this
narrative
of
community
is
one
way
to
do
that.”

Dr.
Maddox
argues
that
what
goes
into
these
documents
is
less
about
user
safety
and
more
about
what
matters
to
the
company.
TikTok
has
long
mined
its
users’
data
to
sell
to
advertisers—that’s
how
social
media
works.
(“If
it’s
free,
you’re
the
product,”
Maddox
says.)
Data
has
always
been
collected,
but
the
company
now
specifically
collects
information
on
“racial
or
ethnic
origin,
national
origin,
religious
beliefs,
mental
or
physical
health
diagnosis,
sexual
life
or
sexual
orientation,
status
as
transgender
or
nonbinary,
citizenship
or
immigration
status,
or
financial
information,”

per
TikTok’s
updated
policy.
This
doesn’t
just
mean
information
provided
upon
sign-up,
but
the
content
users
create.
If
a
TikToker
makes
a
video
declaring
themselves
an
immigrant
or
coming
out
as
trans,
that
information
could
be
collected
by
a
company
with
extremely
close
ties
to
an
administration
expanding
efforts
to
harm
those
groups.
“When
this
administration
has
been
actively
harming
trans
and
non-binary
individuals
and
immigrants,
and
seeing
that,
specifically
listed
now
in
something
that
is
being
tracked,
is
very
concerning
with
how
this
administration
has
acted
towards
those
groups,”
says
Maddox.

Companies
are
communicating
what’s
important
to
them
in
their
documents,
so
when
TikTok
adds
specific
language
that
it
will
now
be
hoovering
up
sensitive
information
like
immigration
status,
it’s
not
just
for
funsies
and
inclusion.
Social
media
companies
have
had
no
issue
handing
user
data
to
hostile
government
entities.
“This
could
be
nothing,
but
it
also
very
much
could
be
going
to
some
form
of
surveillance,”
she
continues.
“It’s
not
unreasonable
or
tinfoil
hat-y
to
say
that.
After
Roe
v.
Wade
was
overturned,

Meta
turned
over
private
DMs
in
Facebook
Messenger
to
the
legal
system
in
the
states
where
women
may
have
crossed
state
lines
to
try
to
get
abortions.”
We’ve
also
seen
Amazon’s
suburban
surveillance
apparatus,
Ring,
come
under
fire
for
its
recent
partnership
with
Flock,

which
gives
government
entities
like
ICE
access
to
its
network
of
AI-powered
cameras.
To
say
nothing
of
Ring’s
already

long-term
relationship
with
law
enforcement.

What
can
users
do
to
protect
themselves?
Knowing
is
half
the
battle.
“Everybody
knows
their
own
level
of
comfort
and
own
level
of
vulnerability,”
Maddox
says.
“I’m
not
going
to
blanket
say
get
off
social
media
because
I
also
think
that
if
we
do
that,
bullies
win.
What
I
mean
by
that
is,
social
media
will
become
a
white,
cisgender,
often
male
space
if
people
of
color,
trans,
non-binary,
and
queer
individuals
start
leaving.”
Maddox
continues,
“Sometimes
stepping
away
can
be
good
for
a
whole
host
of
reasons.
I
would
encourage
people
to
really
take
stock
of
their
own
circumstances,
to
know
their
own
level
of
comfort
with
an
app
like
TikTok,
to
know
what
they
may
be
vulnerable
to
in
this
moment
that
is
rather
horrific,
and
make
the
decision
that
is
best
for
them
and
their
families,
and
also
know
that
there
is
no
wrong
decision.”