TikTok Sending Data to China Says Shashi Tharoor; TikTok Refutes All Claims… Here’s The Truth!

TikTok has found itself amidst another sticky situation, and this time the accusation comes from a political figure of India. Adding to the already long list of controversies is another one: Congress MP, Shashi Tharoor has claimed that TikTok is collecting private data of TikTok users, and sending it to China.

Responding to this, TikTok has released a statement for the public, wherein the popular video making company denied all claims made by Mr. Tharoor and assured that they are following all the limits and regulations of the data privacy.

What has Shashi Tharoor based his claims on? Are they true? Read on to know how it all unfolds!

Shashi Tharoor Accuses TikTok of Illegally Sending Data To China

Shashi Tharoor, a Congress MP spoke during the Zero Hour in Lok Sabha that India lacks a sturdy and protective data protection framework, which leaves the country unprotected against data leaks and external scrutiny. He deemed the whole thing as a “national security issue”, and also asked the government to look into the data privacy and the framework of the nation’s data security.

Tharoor also said, “Recently, the federal regulators in the US slapped a fine of 5.7 million dollars on the social media app TikTok for illegally collecting data on children.”

He opinionated that with the rise in the use of social media, apps, and smartphones in general, there is a massive amount of data in India and it is not very difficult to intrude and exploit all the data that is out in the open for anyone to access. 

TikTok Denies All Accusations by Tharoor

TikTok has refuted all the accusations by Tharoor and said that his claims are “simply untrue”. The popular video making and sharing app went on to assure that security and privacy holds extreme importance for TikTok, and the company follows all the rules and regulations of the market in which they are functioning. 

As per TikTok, it “does not operate in the People’s Republic of China and their government has no access to TikTok users’ data, nor does it have any existing partnership with China Telecom.”

TikTok also confirmed that the data of Indian users’ is in fact stored in the US and Singapore at industry-leading third-party data centers. Additionally, TikTok clarified that they don’t function in China, and there is no relation between the two entities.