Congress MP is troubled with India’s fragile data protection network
It’s a Tik Tok controversy yet again! The Chinese application is usually the center of many controversies when it comes to India. This time, it is famous Indian National Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who has placed grim claims on the app’s policies. During the zero hour at Lok Sabha, the political leader claimed that Tik Tok is illegally collecting data from 200 million Indian users. Apart from that, it is also sharing this data with China. Furthermore, Tharoor termed this as a threat to national security while expressing concerns over India’s vulnerability. He pointed out the derth of a strong and comprehensive system of data protection in the country. In fact, “The federal regulators in the US recently slapped a fine of $5.7 million on TikTok for illegally collecting data on children.”
With the growing age of internet and associated technologies, the claims made by the MP need heeding to. If India moves along at snail-speed and fails at data security, people with vested interest might just find open doors to exploit their interests.
Subsequently, Shashi Tharoor urged the lower house to make way for a comprehensive legal framework that can, in the true sense, protect Indian citizens’ fundamental right to privacy.
While Tik Tok refutes all claims, Shashi Tharoor has put thoughts on security concerns in motion.
Tik Tok seems to differ
This is what the Chinese state-owned company said in its defense “These claims are simply untrue. The privacy and security of our users is a top priority for TikTok, and we abide by local laws and regulations in the markets where we operate.”
Furthermore, they denied any involvement of the People’s Republic of China and its government in the functioning of the application. Nor, as per them, does the Chinese government have any access to the users’ data.
What are your views on the topic? Does a statement from Tik Tok stop all fingers pointing at it? Or is the application really an innocent party in the entire ruckus?
