TIKTOK’S CEO, Shou Zi Chew, received a rough handling from a Congress committee recently. The nub of the matter was whether or not TikTok was a security threat, and if so, should it be banned. The trouble is that TikTok collects data, as does pretty much every company with an internet presence. However, TikTok is aggressive about it, and that data is available to the Chinese government. It doesn’t really have a choice about this; it is part of Chinese law. The company has confirmed that personal data collected is available to staff in China, and that it has the data to spy on journalists as it tries to identify the source of leaks about the company’s operations.