Understanding TikTok – Should it Stay, or Should it Go?

This episode is all about trying to figure out if TikTok - the video hosting platform owned by the Chinese company Byte Dance should be banned or not. Over 70% of young Americans use TikTok, which critics claim is spying on, manipulating, and spreading misinformation to its users. But is TikTok any different than Meta, Google, or X? Our guest’s answer may surprise you… Really, no really! Bruce Schneier is a cryptographer, computer security professional, privacy specialist, who has been writing about security issues since 2004 and is a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University; a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School; a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and AccessNow; and an Advisory Board Member of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and VerifiedVoting.org. He is the Chief of Security Architecture at Inrupt, Inc. IN THIS EPISODE: Surveillance as a business model is 100% legal. Breaking down the types of information companies are collecting, and what they’re doing with it. Why does China want to know about our affinity for puppy videos? Social Media’s ability to manipulate is greater than you might think. Russia and China’s preferred platform for transmitting misinformation is…? (Spoiler Alert: It’s not TikTok) Facebook has data on you… even if you aren’t on Facebook-RnR! Data Privacy is a national security issue, but not treated like one. The European Union leads the world in protecting data privacy. The unsettling future of A.I. and personal data surveillance. Cougar hemorrhoids? Googleheim: What you are missing… if you’re NOT on TikTok! *** FOLLOW BRUCE: Bruce’s Blog: Schneier.com X: @schneierblog Facebook: Bruce Schneier *** FOLLOW REALLY NO REALLY: www.reallynoreally.com Instagram YouTube TikTok Facebook Threads X See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices