Tag: tiktok

Beijing Tiananmen Square - Chinese Communist Party

What The World Must Know About TikTok and ByteDance

Posted on | by adam
Social Media News: Is TikTok a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party?

Last month, BuzzFeed reported on leaked audio from 80 internal meetings at TikTok offices revealing that the company routinely allows Beijing-based employees to access private US user data.

This comes after public statements to news outlets and the US Congress, swearing under oath that TikTok user data would not be compromised or shared with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. For years the company promised that US user data would be stored on US-based servers and would not be shared with officials from our largest foreign adversary. 

The trouble is that, as one TikTok employee from the Trust and Safety department said, “everything is seen in China.”

Irrespective of where the servers are physically located, as easily as accessing a song or iMessage from the cloud, Beijing-based ByteDance employees tap into US-based servers with ease. From one headline to the next, US-based TikTok spokespersons continue to contradict themselves, gaslighting the American public and US regulators instead of owning up to their ugly truth.

 

The concerns here are vast and we must dig deeper.

On one hand, TikTok’s 1 billion users (and growing) are sharing vast amounts of in-app usage, device, and biometric data. The social entertainment app can track where you go and when, and then process that data into meaningful patterns of behavior. All of this data goes through a process of machine learning, which optimizes TikTok’s “For You” algorithm.

If you stop right there, this isn’t really a story worth talking about. After all, American social media companies do this kind of stuff everyday for purposes of generating advertising revenue.

But scratch the surface just a bit deeper. TikTok is not like an American social media company. TikTok is an app that’s owned by a Chinese tech company called ByteDance Ltd.

To be clear, ByteDance is an asset that is owned and controlled by the People’s Republic of China. That’s why US regulators and lawmakers such as Senator Ted Cruz warn that TikTok is “a Trojan horse for the Chinese Communist Party [that can be used] to influence what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think.” He’s not wrong.

What You Need to Know About ByteDance’s Power Structure

Founded by Zhang Yiming, ByteDance Ltd. was incorporated in the Cayman Islands in 2012, though Beijing is its global headquarters. As a company ByteDance designs, develops, and operates several applications, including TikTok, other social media apps, news apps, business apps, and more.

In Communist China, there is no real concept of private ownership.

All ownership is collectively held by the government and any sense of private ownership is a temporary allowance that is granted by the socialist market economy. Why do you think counterfeit goods and a black market flourishes in China? Because like in North Korea and other totalitarian states, they need it! The ruling Chinese Communist Party owns the economic output of all companies and no one gets to operate or “own” anything without expressed consent from the CCP. Think about home ownership in the United States. In China, no citizen or business can own the land that their home or office rests on. The closest you can get is an allowance from the government to lease the land for 70 years.

ByteDance HQ Isn’t Staffed with Hipsters and Tech Bros

Looking specifically at ByteDance’s corporate structure, we’re not talking about a company that is run by software engineers with Star Wars shirts and digital marketers that portray themselves as over-manicured hipsters.

The company is a Chinese state-controlled enterprise that has government officials in corner offices. While it happens to have non-Chinese investors including Sequoia Capital, SoftBank Group, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, these non-Chinese financiers have no actual control over ByteDance.

In fact, the CCP controls the company through a state-owned enterprise called the Cyberspace Administration of China, and a government appointed official, Wu Shugang, sits on ByteDance’s board of directors. That relationship, coupled with Chinese national security laws, gives the CCP sole decision-making authority at ByteDance HQ.

Further to that, within the ByteDance org chat, there is a group that functions as an “internal Chinese Communist Party committee,” managed by ByteDance vice president, Zhang Fuping. This group routinely meets to study speeches and instruction from President Xi Jinping. Their purpose is to ensure that the company works in lockstep with CCP political goals.

As for any business executives that defy or embarrass the CCP, punishments include public humiliation, indefinite detainment, or worse. Like Canadian-Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua or Jack Ma, some executives simply disappear, only to reappear months or years later — if at all.

Even ByteDance’s founder and first CEO, Zhang Yiming, has been negatively impacted by the CCP’s thirst for absolute control. In May 2021, he quickly resigned from his position due to a lack of censorship on two of ByteDance’s other apps that were exclusive to mainland China. The company is now run by Zhang’s former roommate, Liang Rubo.

Seriously Think About The Back Office and Its Motivations

Here’s the thing… every concern expressed by Senator Cruz and FCC Commissioner Carr is founded on reality.

TikTok isn’t just an app and ByteDance isn’t just a company. These are direct extensions of a Xi Jinping controlled Chinese Communist Party that seeks to dominate the world and so far, they have managed to build a weapons-grade attention engagement algorithm into TikTok. That’s why it works so well.

Xi is a leader that has big aspirations. He dreams of a world where China is the single dominant world power, both economically and militarily. Xi assumed power in 2012 and under his leadership, political observers have cited an increase of mass surveillance, state-controlled censorship, a deterioration of human rights, and a cult of personality developing around his persona.

In 2018, Xi Jinping removed his 2-term limit, elevating his status to “president for life.” Sounds like Vladimir Putin, right? This makes him the most powerful leader the country has had since Mao Zedong. Under his leadership, his government has been repeatedly exposed for committing some of the worst, most frequent human rights atrocities on Earth. I’m talking about genocide, child slavery, and so much more.

In Xi’s China, apps have already been used to assert power and suppress dissent. Most recently China used a COVID health tracking app to restrict citizens from lawfully leaving their apartments. This COVID app leverages QR codes and a color code system to allow citizens access to buildings and transportation. QR code scans take place after routine COVID screenings (every 48 hours), and if you have a green light in your app, it means you can leave your apartment. The CCP has been using this app and giving a red light to citizens that have been deemed politically unfavorable, restricting their ability to travel for work, to get food, and more. This concept is in essence, an extreme version of vaccine passports.

 

The fact of the matter is that China already uses apps to control and manipulate their own people. WeChat is another popular “super app” that the CCP uses to monitor and control Chinese nationals that travel abroad.

Xi Jinping and the CCP view apps as a tool that strengthens their surveillance capabilities and to assert power. It would be extremely naive for US national security analysts and consumers to view ByteDance or TikTok as anything other than malignant… a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

A Rare Glimpse At How ByteDance Has Already Targeted US App Users

A new report from Emily Baker-White highlights that TikTok’s parent company intentionally used one of its apps to distribute pro-China messages to millions of Americans.

A now defunct news app called TopBuzz was used to secretly share and promote pro-China messages to Americans, while actively suppressing anything that was critical of the CCP. This app, TopBuzz, was basically a news aggregator app that the Communist Party could use to influence the world of news and entertainment. In the US, the concept of “fake news” has been all the rage, and in 2018 TopBuzz took that to the next level for its 80 million users.

ByteDance Beijing Headquarters
CCP members and employees in ByteDance Beijing Office (NetEase Hao photo)

Following interviews with over 15 former ByteDance staffers that were assigned to TopBuzz, it became apparent that a content review system would filter content in such a way that allowed government fueled censorship. The Hong Kong “freedom protests” were suppressed, and oddly, the cartoon Winnie the Pooh was banned as it has become a vehicle in China to mock President Xi Jinping.

Xi Jinping Winnie the Pooh
Image Credit: unknown source

Don’t forget, commies can’t take a joke without trying to take your head.

Thankfully, TopBuzz shuttered in June 2020 but during its time, here are some of the things it was up to:

  • Removing all coverage of Honk Kong Freedom Protests
  • Removing any news and editorial content depicting openly gay people
  • Removing all content critical of Xi Jinping and the CCP
  • Scraping content from 3rd party publishers & running fake bylines to support political objectives
  • Creating fake user accounts to promote and comment on politically relevant stories
  • Running news and editorial content specific to US elections, politicians, & current events

If that isn’t smoke, this headline from the DailyMail is fire:

China Asked TikTok for Stealth Account Where it Could Spread Propaganda in the West

TikTok Election Interference

New information from Bloomberg hit the press after a TikTok whistleblower shared that the Chinese government made a “sensitive request,” asking TikTok leaders to create a stealth propaganda account.

The DailyMail notes that the CCP was facing harsh global scrutiny in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and this request was designed to try and mitigate damage to China’s international reputation.

[Cough, cough, “Wuhan lab leak,” cough, cough..]

The request went to the company’s international management team, including US-based Global Head of Corporate Affairs and General Counsel, Erich Andersen, as well as Elizabeth Kanter who heads TikTok’s government relations for the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, and Israel.

Since President Trump worked to remove TikTok from the US market in 2020, the company has been under increased scrutiny, prompting its PR teams to try and create a perceivable distance from its direct association with the Chinese government.

Perhaps because of this, and the fact that internal whistleblowers shared the story, this particular request was not implemented. But how far and frequent are requests like this? Will we have to rely on future whistleblowers to expose injustices within the ranks of ByteDance or is there already enough information to give us a clear answer for how we must move forward? It seems there are a lot of sparks here — and tons of smoke. As we know, where there is smoke, there is fire.

As Americans, business leaders, taxpayers, patriots, and freedom-loving people, we have to really come to terms with reality here.

How far are we willing to let this go and, given ByteDance’s power, can it impact future elections and world events? It seems that it’s already happening.

 

Author: S. Adam Rizzieri
Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer // Agency Partner Interactive

Can Agency Partner Interactive Help Me With Social Media?

As Dallas’ top digital marketing agency, we optimize marketing investments in real-time with our digital marketing and social media management services. We help businesses determine how and to what extent they should be leveraging social media marketing. TikTok is a very murky place right now, though there are many businesses that are finding ways to create value with it. The future is uncertain and when it comes to lead generation, our digital marketing team can help diversify risk and create a multitude of online channels that add value to your business. 

If you’re looking to safely navigate online marketing, our digital marketing experts will work to understand your business goals and objectives — thereby working to help you attract valuable customers, drive sales, increase your leads, build brand awareness, and more.

Are you ready to optimize your business with an award-winning social media marketing agency? Maybe you just have some basic questions? Let’s talk — Contact us today!

Meta Tweaks Facebook App to be like TikTok - July 2022 - Adam Rizzieri Agency Partner Fox News

Fox 5 Las Vegas: Meta Tweaks Facebook App

Posted on | by adam
Social Media News: Is Facebook Trying to Copy TikTok’s Feed?

Agency Partner’s co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Adam Rizzieri joins Fox 5 Las Vegas to talk about the latest social media news. If you’ve been paying attention to recent social media news, you may have heard that Meta is updating Facebook to be more like TikTok. Is this really a good idea? Bad idea? What is the goal here…?

Tune in to the conversation below.

For a more in-depth analysis on this major social media update, click here for the whole story.

 

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Of course! As Dallas’ top digital marketing agency, we optimize social media marketing investments in real-time with our digital marketing and social media management services. Agency Partner’s internet marketing experts can adjust and optimize your marketing campaigns up to 48 times over 24 hours. We try to make improvements in real-time to provide you with the fastest, most impactful return on investment.

Our digital marketing experts will help you attract valuable customers, drive sales, increase your leads, build brand awareness, and more. Ready to optimize your business with an award-winning PPC Agency? Maybe you just have some basic questions?  Contact us today to get started!

facebook tiktok ui update

Meta Updates Facebook Feed To Be More Like TikTok

Posted on | by adam
Social Media News: Is Facebook Trying to Copy TikTok’s Feed?

If you’ve been paying attention to recent social media news, you have likely heard that Meta is updating Facebook to be more like TikTok. 

The heart of the app update will be focused on your Facebook feed. This is typically where users find content from friends and family… Well, this week we’re seeing a change to that as Meta is now able to utilize its new “Discovery Engine” to show you more recommended content, with a strong tilt for all video formatted content, above audio and text.

With a new discovery algorithm powering all of this, the Facebook User Interface, which is basically what you see on your app screen, will now be split into a “Home” feed and a “Feeds” tab. The Home Feed will present you with content that is designed to keep you entertained, similar to your typical TikTok experience. Meanwhile, the Feeds tab is where you’ll find the latest posts from Friends, Groups, and your you basic social media favorites.

Facebook feed update like TikTok

This is a Move from Social Network to Online Content Sharing Platform

There is no doubt that this is a big change for Facebook. It is a move away from its roots as a social network among friends and family, and towards a TikTok style “entertainment app” that highlights content creators and online commerce.

Think of the TikTok “For You” feed. This is a feed that shares seemingly endless short form videos from strangers and friends alike. Of TikTok’s 1 billion users, more than 55% of them are creating highly shareable short form videos that are not restricted to an audience of first, second, and third-degree connections.

Facebook feed update

What is Behind this Change to the Facebook Feed? 

If you ask 10 people, you may get three to five different answers. Here is what the Zuck himself has to say about it:

“One of the most requested features for Facebook is to make sure people don’t miss friends’ posts. So today we’re launching a Feeds tab where you can see posts from your friends, groups, Pages and more separately in chronological order. The app will still open to a personalized feed on the Home tab, where our discovery engine will recommend the content we think you’ll care most about. But the Feeds tab will give you a way to customize and control your experience further.”

Does the Zuck stop here?

We don’t think so… We think Meta is anxious that TikTok is now surpassing 1 Billion active users. We know Meta is taking note of the fact that Bytedance’s cash cow, TikTok, is poised to grow from $4 to $12 Billion in 2022.

If you look back to October 2012, back when Facebook hit its first 1 Billion users, that level of active users turned out to be a nuclear reactor of new revenue growth, teeing them up to acquire Instagram (for cheap, just $1 Billion), WhatsApp, and 2 Billion more users.

So here we are…. TikTok is at its first billion users and it is dominating the attention of Gen Z. Consider this: the average TikTok user spends 29 hours per month scrolling through the app. This compares to 16 hours for Facebook users and just 8 hours per month for Instagram users.

That difference in time spent on the app is huge… Meta is feeling left out because no doubt, they are not the cool kid in school anymore.

Is Facebook About to Alienate the Legacy App’s Loyal Users?

This move to appeal to a younger demographic could totally blow up in Meta’s face.

Your typical Facebook app user presents much different demographic data than your daily TikTok user. Meta’s Facebook has mostly Millennials on up to Baby Boomers, and really doesn’t have many Gen Z gamer kids on the platform.

Meta has to ask itself: “Can we have it all and if we cannot, is it worth alienating a loyal legacy user to try and attract the favor of a younger demographic?” 

At best, the younger demographic is spending time reposting TikTok videos to Instagram Reels….

Why, you might ask? Well, social media users tend to prefer the video editing tools that TikTok offers in its app so most often a video will be created and posted to TikTok before eventually being shared on Instagram Reels.

But I digress. Baby boomers and older millennials are likely engaging in none of this content duplication and posting behavior. They’re on Facebook to share updates with the family across the country or keeping up with old friends from school. If they’re keeping their content consumption closer to home, it’s likely that they’re hanging strong in Facebook Groups.

Are Companies Changing Their Social Media Behavior?

Yes and no. In some ways, a good social media marketer is always changing things up. Similarly, the social media engagement algorithms are constantly in flux to cater to a combination of a better user experience and specific business goals. Yes, business goals. These social media companies are NOT non-profit organizations. In some ways, they may even be a little bit evil, emphasizing that small businesses and individuals are largely at the mercy of the big tech.

News organizations, for sure, will have to change how their content is disseminated online.

More than 70% of US adults are accustomed to consuming news content in a digital, in-app social media format and Facebook has been a leading supplier of this type of information. This Facebook-TikTok update will highlight user generated content (think of the TikTok challenges and trendy dance moves) and move away from syndicating real and “fake” news. Given the heat that Zuckerberg and Co. have been facing from US lawmakers and states attorneys general, this may help mitigate the companies annual legal expenses.

As always, in times of change, opportunity presents along with challenge. There will be some companies that find new ways to engage their customers among the 3 billion Meta users worldwide.

How Should I Respond to this Facebook/TikTok Social Media Update?

It depends!

If you’re a social media user, pay close attention to the type of content of you see in the Facebook Home tab, and take note of how it differs from the stuff that is presented to you in that Feeds tab. If this change happens to be a win for Meta, and Facebook starts to measure more app activity between Facebook, Instagram, and Insta Reels in particular, then expect this to stick around. Remember, Facebook is a for-profit business and it really only cares about promoting user growth and selling advertisements to businesses. Meta cares about Meta.

If your business happens to be a news and information publisher that relies on Facebook to syndicate content, you should contact a social media marketing agency today. This will be a difficult time for your company.

If you run a product or service company that gets new product sales, phone calls, appointments, and form submissions from social media marketing, then this could be an interesting new world for you.

In fact, it could be a lot of fun if you’re able to invest in shareable, video content that is designed explicitly for social sharing. Brands have been using TikTok to go viral and put themselves front and center in front of gamer kids, Gen Z’s, and younger Millennials. 

Now, that same style of content can be used to get your brand in front of a more mature social media user. Depending on what you sell and who your customer is, this may or may not work, which is why always recommend that you consult with a digital marketer first. With that said, every new internet marketing campaign is a test and should be conducted using the scientific method.

Can Agency Partner Interactive Help Me With This?

As Dallas’ top digital marketing agency, we optimize marketing investments in real-time with our digital marketing and social media management services. Our internet marketing experts can optimize your marketing campaigns up to 48 times over 24 hours. We try to make improvements in real-time to provide you with the fastest, most impactful return on investment.

Our digital marketing experts will help you attract valuable customers, drive sales, increase your leads, build brand awareness, and more. Ready to optimize your business with an award-winning PPC Agency? Maybe you just have some basic questions? 

Contact us today to get started!

microsofts_tiktok_ambitions

The Role of Data in Microsoft’s TikTok Ambitions

Posted on | by devops

 

Microsoft is in negotiations to buy TikTok’s American possessions. After discussions with the U.S. president, Donald Trump, last week, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft has been given six weeks to work out a deal that satisfies the Trump administration and shareholders in Chinese parent company ByteDance. In an official acknowledgment that Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is in negotiations with TikTok, the company issued the following statement:

“The discussions with ByteDance will build upon a notification made by Microsoft and ByteDance to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The two companies have provided notice of their intent to explore a preliminary proposal that would involve a purchase of the TikTok service in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and would result in Microsoft owning and operating TikTok in these markets. Microsoft may invite other American investors to participate on a minority basis in this purchase.”

The Value Of TikTok

This is where the problem begins. What is covered by the term ‘Amercian’ business and how much is it worth? It is impossible to say how much ByteDance is worth globally. However, at the end of May, it recorded a number of private share transactions that are not transparent but led Bloomberg financial wires to report that the company had an estimated market value of $100 billion. According to the report, which cited people “familiar with the matter”, the valuation was built on the expectation that TikTok — one of the company’s main offerings — would keep attracting advertisers as the social network continues to expand, particularly across a young adult demographic.

Equally important was an assessment by Andrea Walne, a partner at Manhattan Venture Partners that “the trading of ByteDance [shares] is reflective of the global wave of consumers who agree that ByteDance can displace Facebook as the leading social network.”

If for no other reason than this, TikTok would be an interesting buy for Microsoft and would make it a very strong competitor in a technology market that is one of the toughest to break. But is this really the reason?

Adam Rizzieri is Chief Marketing Officer with Agency Partner Interactive, a digital marketing agency based in Dallas. He believes that Microsoft’s interest in TikTok is largely for the data that is available through social networks and the value that that data could have across the company.

This is not new though. He pointed out that in 2007, Microsoft invested $240 million in the then three-year-old Facebook but that Microsoft was too late to the party and only acquired 1.6% of the business, earning it a little over $1 billion after dilution. “Apart from its $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016, it has generally been unsuccessful at launching its own social networks, such as So.cl,” he said. “A move towards TikTok immediately gives it a functional, highly adopted social platform with over two billion downloads in the App Store and Google Play.”

If the sale goes through, Microsoft will also immediately earn revenue on the recently launched TikTok For Business Ads Manager, and in the long-term, the video platform will allow them to compete with Google’s YouTube and Facebook. “On top of that, Microsoft will utilize TikTok’s user data to connect with Gen Z consumers, driving innovation in new software and hardware products,” he added.

TikTok Data for Microsoft

PureVPN is a commercial virtual private network service owned by GZ Systems, which develops security-based apps among other things. Based in Hong Kong it has a foot firmly planted in the Chinese market. Muhammad Mateen Khan, a digital marketing strategy at the company agrees that this deal is about data. “This is the driving force behind concerns from the Trump administration over TikTok’s potential ties to the Chinese government and how that data might be misused,” Khan said.

The data could be used by Microsoft in a variety of ways. The software giant has long used Xbox Live to fuel parts of Microsoft Research for future software and hardware projects, and the usage data helps game developers and Microsoft better understand how people use their Xbox. Understanding how people interacted with and used the Kinect accessory for the Xbox ultimately helped Microsoft develop and improve HoloLens, too.

TikTok could also help correct a Microsoft blindspot and even influence how other software and services are developed inside the company. Microsoft has all the data it needs on business usage of software, but it has not been successful with pure consumer services in recent years, which has left the company with a gap of insight into consumer behaviors.

That is particularly relevant when you consider that many young Americans are growing up in an environment dominated by Android iOS, and Chromebooks in classrooms. With Gmail also dominating consumer email usage and document sharing through Google Docs, it is now possible to grow up in the U.S. without needing any Microsoft software or services. “Microsoft missed the mobile revolution and has been playing catch-up ever since, but it doesn’t want to miss an entire generation of future workers,” he said.

Network Users’ Data

If data is the new oil then the principal reason why Microsoft wants  TikTok is to cash in on the bonanza that the social network might offer. In recent years Microsoft’s gap of insights into consumer behavior widened after the company missed the mobile revolution, David Morneau of the Canada-based inBeat.Agency, a micro-influencer marketing agency that works closely with TikToK, pointed out.

Gen Z  that represents a majority of TikTok-ers grew up using very little or none of Microsoft’s software. They are active Android and iOS users. They use Gmail, Chromebooks, Google docs in the classrooms. With TikTok, Microsoft gets access to the data that will help make their products more consumer-friendly. “TikTok will open the doors to the world of AI consumer testing beyond the Office and feed Microsoft’s Augmented Reality ambitions,” he added.

What Will Microsoft Do?

So, what will Microsoft do with the data. Among other measures, Microsoft would ensure that all private data of TikTok’s American users is transferred to and remains in the United States, according to a Microsoft statement. To the extent that any such data is currently stored or backed-up outside the United States, Microsoft would ensure that this data is deleted from servers outside the country after it is transferred.

But it is not a done deal yet and there is a long way to go. The statement, which is dated August 2, adds that these discussions are preliminary and there can be no assurance that a transaction that involves Microsoft will proceed. “We do not intend to provide further updates until there is a definitive outcome to our discussions,” it adds.