Congress and Biden created a law to shut down TikTok under the premise that it is a threat to national security, because, of course, it is controlled by China. In an amusing turn of events, Trump says he has a soft heart for TikTok since he used the platform himself and delayed the implementation of a ban. Though, when he was in office before, he too wanted to ban TikTok. Unfortunately, many people are great parents of their political leadership, so I can imagine that there will be some who will now rush to one side or the other in support or derision of TikTok based on their leaders.

I’ve even seen some commentaries by privacy and cybersecurity people, and I will tell you right now that many of the arguments are flawed. So what I will do differently here is to follow the science, and here I mean data science. I want you to understand exactly what can be collected about each of you, and then you can judge if this is really a dangerous app or not. We’re going to be very fair. I imagine that my demographic of followers aren’t going to be big on TikTok, but I’m sure you will know friends and relatives who use TikTok.

What I will say here, though, can actually be used for you to judge any other platform along the same criteria, like it’s Xafe, it’s Instagram safe, it’s Snapchat safe, it’s the Tesla app safe. I’ve used TikTok to see how it works, I’ve seen some of its dangers, and I stopped using it. But if you’re going to speak about the safety and danger of some platform, then I hope you actually know what you’re talking about. If you want to be one of those people who will know what they’re talking about, stay right there. When someone states that TikTok is dangerous, I often wonder what they mean.

Is there a doxing threat? Is there a military threat? Is there a cybersecurity threat? Is there a privacy threat? Is it a psyop threat? Lumping it all into a statement of an emotionally charged word like dangerous without any factual data actually falls into my idea of disinformation. The truth is, and this is a spoiler alert, for some of you TikTok will be very dangerous, for some of you it will not be dangerous at all. Where you will fit into this spectrum is something you will learn today. I’m going to briefly teach you an old lesson that many of my followers already know about, but you will need to understand.

This is part of the theory of how to protect our data. The threat to our personal data has two parts. Data plus identity. I’ve repeated this so often, and obviously other so-called privacy experts don’t really pay attention to me, so they apparently still don’t understand this. The way data science works, which is by the way the intent to capture your data, to manipulate you in some way, you need both raw data of what you’re doing on the internet, and it has to be attached to an identity. So random data without an identity is referred to as pseudo-anonymous data.

Unfortunately for the data scientists at Meta, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and TikTok, if the data action cannot be attributed to an actor, then the data has to be thrown away. Attribution is a big term in cybersecurity circles because you cannot adequately defend yourself from an attack without identifying the source of the attack. In social media, knowing what someone said is not as important as knowing what was said and who said it. Now why is this important? It is important because while some of you think that privacy is dead, I actually teach you actual solutions to cripple the data scientists.

The main tool is to hide your identity. This is why we use the Google phones because these phones have no Google ID or Apple ID. They are pseudo-anonymous devices. Assuming you’re not passing identity information in your data itself, then the lack of an identity precludes someone from attacking you, whether it is for marketing, doxing, cybersecurity, privacy, or a sign up kind of attack. It doesn’t work. Identity is key. So just remember this quick mantra, hide your identity. If you can’t, then hide your data. You see, I don’t really care if you see my data as long as I know what data you’re seeing as it relates to the identity I give you.

This discussion will be applicable to the TikTok question as you will see in a moment. How do apps capture your identity? On Google platforms, we are identified all over the internet by the Google ID. This persistent mother-zucking identifier is passed from your device to every single internet site. This way, every click on the internet is tracked. Now, to have some consistency, the Google ID is then matched to your identity on multiple devices by two-factor authentication. So by nature, once you provide an identifier that connects multiple devices, then the identity is locked in. The main identifier on Google is the phone number.

Now, Facebook specifically focuses on identity. In fact, it is an extremely dangerous platform because there is no actual way to obscure an identity. Not only does Facebook capture your phone number, in fact, it is the first to do it. It also ensures that they have your real name. And the way this is verified is through contact lists. All the Facebook users are innocently uploading their contact list to MetaDaily and then it can verify connections between people using phone numbers, names, sometimes even addresses and birth dates, collected through the contact list and matching it to 2FA.

Now, some apps do not require a phone number for 2FA. For example, X does not. And lo and behold, TikTok does not either. I’ve used TikTok and never gave it a phone number. I gave it a unique email address. I didn’t even give it a real name. So on this basis, TikTok would not have been a privacy issue since it doesn’t know who I am. I also use a VPN and I have a de-Google phone so it can’t scrape a Google ID from me. Now, having said this, it is not completely safe because TikTok asks to access my contact list every time I start the app.

And one time I made the mistake of tapping without looking and I accidentally gave it permission to read the contact list once. Well, once is pretty bad. So the immediate result was that people on the contact list with TikTok accounts start showing up on the app. That was the time I stopped using it. Was this really bad? The only thing that TikTok would know was that I was connected to people on my contact list. In this case, it was my young relatives. You know, the usual suspects using TikTok. In retrospect, I would probably have called down the contact list on the phone for everyday use to prevent this kind of accidental disclosure.

But the conclusion here is that it is possible to be pseudo-anonymous on TikTok. If a platform allows you to be pseudo-anonymous, meaning not be required to identify yourself with KYC, then it lessens the privacy risk tremendously. Now let’s be clear here. If you’re making money off TikTok, then you’re going to give it a lot more permissions on your phone and that’s where the real danger begins. But fortunately, this is not the majority. And to be frank, it should be an obvious risk. And it’s no different on YouTube, for example. If you’re making money off a platform, then you have to give it banking information and I presume some amount of KYC or ID information.

Is this a significant risk? Well, if you’re the head of building security at the Pentagon, this is a huge risk. If you’re the typical Gen C user in college or high school, showing your dance moves, then TikTok will really know where you live in your bank info. Will you care? I’m sure you knew that when you wanted to monetize. People with more advanced knowledge like me use corporate banks, corporate credit cards, and other means to separate my identity. But that is your choice. Clearly, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on have the same kind of scenarios of risk, just like TikTok.

The only real issue is that China will have this information from this small population. Is this a big threat? Again, it depends on who you are. As a consumer, rather than a creator, it is up to you to protect your identity. And obviously, you can do it. Are there PSYOP threats in TikTok? A PSYOP threat is if there’s a control plan to push information to have people think a different way. For example, could there be a specific push for a certain agenda to be shown in your feeds to amplify a particular message? I’ve done several PSYOP videos which you should all watch because they’re very important.

What I taught you about PSYOP done by Big Tech, which clearly is being done, is that two specific actions are needed. One is to suppress certain messages that is contrary to the plan. And second is to amplify the messages that conform to the plan. All these require targeting to be effective. Message targeting requires an identity. Suppression, which is called disruption by one particular PSYOP company, really means censorship. So the presence of active censorship already means that some attempt at a PSYOP is already in place. Second, message amplification has to reach particular people who are likely to buy into the message.

And this requires some sort of identity. In the absence of a true identity based on ID or phone number, which TikTok lacks, identity can be based on behavior. So in this case, it is possible for TikTok to target those who are watching particular political content and use that to profile individuals for a PSYOP. So it is true that some people may be vulnerable to this kind of profiling. However, this is extensively done at YouTube and Meta to a much greater degree. While this is a valid concern, I don’t see the same kind of hysteria about Facebook and even YouTube.

I saw Sundar Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg zucking up to Trump during the inauguration. Regardless of their seeming presence with Trump to imply a joining with the new bandwagon, nothing has really changed. These two platforms are heavily engaged in PSYOPs today. We’ll see if a different PSYOP is put in place. Yes, I can see that TikTok could be a threat here if controlled by China. But the signal that this threat is a reality depends on the amount of censorship. That’s the main clue. Now, I’m not a long-term user of TikTok to know how much censorship exists.

So you can tell me. I saw this specific claim made by a privacy creator on the dangers of TikTok. The stated danger is that when you’re inside the TikTok app and you click on the external link that TikTok can track that. Now, unfortunately, this is such a reach that it’s almost about looking for germs in your tap water. You’ll likely drink it anyway, and I’m sure there will always be germs. But seriously, every app ever made can track every external click made inside this platform. This is hardly a secret though, because of course the app itself put the link there.

What you’re not actually seeing is that the click on TikTok to an external link is known by Google, and Google knows the click even if you did it on Instagram. What is worse is that Google knows your internet identity with the Google ID. TikTok has no such reach. Sure, any interaction on any platform can be used to profile you, and this leads back to the potential SIA problem. But this so pales in comparison to the danger of Facebook, which knows your real name, your real location, in addition to all the choices you make on the app.

TikTok is just a user app, because it is not a system app. It does not have access to device identifiers or network data that a Google app like YouTube or Gmail will likely have. So it lacks a universal identity tracker capability. You can safely limit the permissions given to TikTok. If there’s some cybersecurity threat, then the onus is on you, as it is a threat from every single app. Take care of it, limit permissions. TikTok, for example, reports permissions to files, photos, videos, and microphone. If you’re not a creator, then obviously they don’t need access to these.

I hope what I say here will be common sense. If you use a social media platform to expose your entire life, show your address, show your phone numbers, use your real name, connect with real people by real name, discuss your personal problems, then that is your issue and you made your choice. My concern as a privacy advocate is if things are done without our choice, if things are foisted on us with rules to make sure we have no privacy. Specifically, Facebook ensures that they have your real name or your known moniker.

They crowdsource your identity with others stating their relationship to you from family to classmates. They have your phone number. They have a history of locations from every photo ever uploaded and your phone locations. They don’t give you a choice. Facebook even tracks MAC addresses on your network. Truly an intentional privacy invasion. Many platforms do not do this intentional privacy invasion because they’re not identity-based platforms. By the way, another identity-based platform is LinkedIn. Forceable KYC, really. In contrast, this is not the basis of TikTok or X, for example.

It doesn’t make these platforms ultra safe, but you are free to make your own choices. If you use your real name on TikTok and then announce to the world that you’re going to the football game tonight, then your stupidity will cause your home to be robbed. A very common thing nowadays. Is TikTok a doxing threat? Just to understand this, I will compare it to Facebook. On Facebook, you can research anyone and find out their friends and their connections. And frankly, it is impossible to hide even with the so-called Facebook restrictions and provisions.

I know of a million ways around that. Once you put your entire life on Facebook, which, as I said, has your real identity, then game over, with sophisticated techniques, it would be pretty easy to dox you. But in contrast, some apps are not heavily profile based. If you’re not a creator on TikTok, there really isn’t much information about you. There is nothing really shared. So to be frank with you, this is such a minimal threat compared to other platforms. YouTube, by the way, is another example of a very minimal doxing threat.

If you’re just a YouTube watcher and not a creator, and especially if you’re not using your real name, then it’s pretty hard to get information about you. Google has a lot of information on you, obviously, but outsiders cannot see that. Another similar comparison can be made about the Tesla app. If you have a Tesla, supposedly you’re exposing your life to Tesla since it knows where the car is at all times. But a Tesla app is not a social media app. I do not express opinions to the car.

The car can’t sigh off me. Obviously, they would know where I live since I pay for a car loan and have to have my credit approved. And whatever data is known is not revealed to the public. All I’m saying is that by the type of app, then certain risks don’t really matter so much because it’s not in the same realm as the risk to anything meta, for example. Is there a military threat? Now, this is an interesting topic because the US government actually conducted a war simulation and I can see TikTok and this possible use.

The war simulation was based on a China scenario where China intended to take some territory in Southeast Asia. The target of the scenario was a US naval base in Japan, if I recall. And the way it worked was that a time series of disinformation messages were targeted to the various leaders of the US naval base. This included things like family crisis messages sent to the admiral in charge and his lieutenants. Your wife was in an auto accident. Your son was put in jail. You lost all your money in your investment.

Your mother died. You know the drill. Lots of personalized distractions. Then this was time to an attack by China on the particular territory. Because of the distractions, there was a considerable delay in the response after which it was a fait accompli. China got the territory and no military action resulted. Frankly, this is not necessarily an approach suited for TikTok which is more of a Gen Z platform. Some military leadership personnel are not likely to be heavy users of TikTok. But still, I acknowledge it is possible and being controlled by China, it makes it a more convenient platform to use for this kind of disinformation attack.

However, this same attack can be done using any other platform. So the absence of TikTok would not prevent it from happening. Like all social media, it is possible for TikTok to be used in dangerous ways. However, as long as it does not force 2FA with an identity nor require a real name, then it is a risk that you can control. It will be dangerous or safe based on how you use it. Like with any other social media, I protect my IP address with a VPN, block location permissions, use proper identity protection measures with phone numbers and exclude personally identifying information from anything posted on the platform.

I would be careful on any platform to be so politically overt so that the platform knows exactly what you’re thinking. This is not limited to TikTok. But the clue that someone’s trying to manipulate you is when you see a lot of obvious censorship. That’s 50% of the PSYOP toolkit. I only use TikTok for a short while and frankly, the nonsense of short-form content is not really intellectually appealing to me. So I’m not a target market for this. But because of my lack of long-term experience, I couldn’t really tell you if there’s a lot of censorship and if it is politically one-sided.

I can expect that China probably blocks any anti-China content. That’s sort of a PSYOP but they can only do it on TikTok. So if you want to use TikTok but still be a privacy enthusiast, go ahead. Just follow the techniques I personally use and move on. There are bigger issues in the privacy world. This is not high on my list. Will TikTok ownership by U.S. investor be a good thing? I can’t imagine how it can be a bad thing. China controls Apple servers for Chinese iPhone users. So this is not that shocking of a concept.

However, it is frankly just political nonsense hype that does nothing for us. Folks, this channel is completely supported by this community. As many of you know, I don’t really take sponsors and instead we create the privacy products ourselves and give you solutions that are actually very reasonably priced. One of our newer products is the Brax III phone which is critical to privacy because it has no identity. This is currently on pre-order on indiegogo.com and will be available in March. We have other products like the Brax virtual phone which gives you additional phone numbers without adding devices and without KYC.

A rare feature nowadays. We have Braxmail which will allow you to create unique email addresses for every online platform. Important for identity protection. We have BytesVPN which is an inexpensive service that will protect your IP address. We have other de-google pixel phones that will also give you identity-free internet access. All these products are on my site Braxme. There are over 100,000 users there talking about privacy daily. Join us there and the store is there when you sign up. Once again, thank you for your support on Patreon, locals, and YouTube memberships.

Thank you for watching and see you next time. [tr:trw].

See more of Rob Braxman Tech on their Public Channel and the MPN Rob Braxman Tech channel.