TikTok users panic over collection of ‘immigration status’ app – here’s what it means

I am TikTok’s ownership changeTikTok users in the US are all worried about the company’s changes Privacy Policy alerted to the change via an in-app message. The revised document describes how US businesses operate, including information on where they can collect. Many users and posting to social media of the language found in the policy, which states that TikTok may collect information about its users, including “their sexual life or sexual orientation, being transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration.”

But despite the fear, this revelation is not new – and it does not mean what many users fear. The same language appeared again TikTok’s privacy policy before the ownership agreement closesand it is important to comply with state privacy laws such as California’s Consumer Privacy Act, which requires companies to agree to disclose to consumers what “sensitive information” has been collected. Similar disclosures are also seen in other social media programs.

To understand why users are worried – and why this policy counts in this way – it helps to look at the political situation and the legal requirements that TikTok is running.

In particular, the policy states that TikTok may process information from users or information they may share for research purposes, including information about “race or ethnicity, race, religious beliefs, mental or physical illness, sexual life or preferences, being transgender or non-citizen, citizenship or immigration, or financial information.”

It’s no wonder that Americans would find this kind of language troubling, especially given the current political climate.

The increase in immigration under the Trump administration has led to widespread protests across the country, with a peak in Minnesota. On Friday, hundreds of merchants they closed their doors in financial crisis oppose the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the state. The move follows weeks of conflict between Minnesota residents and ICE agents, which has led to thousands of arrests and the death of an American citizen Renée Good.

But the language of the secret code precedes this. In TikTok plastic already, updated on August 19, 2024, the company explained that some of the information it collects and uses may be “confidential” under federal privacy laws.

Then it went on to mention the same groups as examples. The legal reason is straightforward.

The details of this policy regarding the types of “sensitive information” relate to state privacy laws, such as California’s California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA). The latter, for example, requires businesses to notify consumers when they take “information,” which the law defines as including things like:

• Proof of purchase, driver’s license, government identification, or passport number
• Enter your consumer account, financial account, credit card, or debit card number along with any security or access code, password, or account authorization information.
• A real place for consumers
• The consumer’s race or ethnicity, citizenship or immigration, religious or intellectual beliefs, or union membership
• Content in consumer newsletters, email, and text messages, unless the business is the recipient of such communications.
• Consumer genetic data
• Consumer neural data
• Biometric information is for the purpose of identifying the buyer
• Information collected and analyzed related to consumer health
• Personal information collected and analyzed related to the consumer’s sex life or preferences
  

Notably, citizenship and immigration were added to the category of “personal information” when California Governor Gavin Newsom. signed AB-947 into law on October 8, 2023.

Thanks to an in-app warning that is about to close the deal (required by the new law enforcement agency), many people are now reading TikTok’s statement for the first time. Seeing this language is very scary, they are posting on social networks about their concerns and warn others; others threaten delete their accounts.

But what TikTok’s policy says is that, as part of using its app, it can process private information — especially if it’s about someone else’s video — and that it agrees to process that information “in accordance with applicable laws.”

The policy also mentions the CCPA by name, as an example of the laws that TikTok accepts.

“TikTok is required by law to inform privacy users that personal information is being collected, how it is being used, and with whom it is being shared,” explains Jennifer Daniels, a partner at the law firm Blank Rome, which provides legal and corporate consulting.

His partner, Philip Yannella, chair of Blank Rome’s Privacy, Security, and Data Protection Practice, says TikTok may have decided to include this language in its privacy policy because of legal concerns. For example, he says recently, he’s seen several requests under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) from plaintiffs’ attorneys that claim to “collect racial, ethnic, and racial data.”

Similar disclosures to TikTok’s can be found in other social media applications, although some companies keep the disclosures very high, while others, such as TikTok, have written a list of categories that are legally defined as “reasonable information” for clarity.

However, one lawyer interviewed by TechCrunch said that detailing these details accurately could make things confusing for users.

As a parallel principle, Meta privacy policy it gets there a bit, too, though it doesn’t include “emigration” as one of the examples of common knowledge:

Social media users often share personal stories, says Ashlee Difuntorum, a partner at Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir (KHIKS) and a business advocate specializing in software and technology companies.

“TikTok says that if you disclose sensitive information, that information becomes part of what the platform technically ‘collects’,” he tells TechCrunch. “Laws like this are often seen as dangerous because they are written for rulers and judges, not ordinary people.

TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

Of course, sharing content on social media is not without risk, especially under repressive regimes that target their citizens. These apps collect a lot of data, and governments can legislate to access it.

Ironically, the decision to transfer TikTok’s US operations to the US under new ownership was due to the same concern, but China was seen as a threat.

Chinese laws require companies to support government intelligence and data security, including the 2017 National Intelligence Law and the 2021 Data Security Law. The fear among US lawmakers was that the ownership of TikTok by a Chinese company, ByteDance, could put US citizens at risk, either through monitoring or subtle changes to the app’s content designed to influence people or promote Chinese propaganda.

Now, people in the US are more concerned about what their government can control than China.