Some of the biggest news in the world of mobile applications has been around the recent information released regarding popular video sharing social media site TikTok, at the start of July a reddit user had posted his concerns after taking a closer look at how time is running out for TikTok was operating, suggesting that there was the possibility of user data being used in a way that wasn’t intended – the fears had been that a lot was being tracked that perhaps shouldn’t be from hardware data to network information. It was later confirmed that this wasn’t out of the ordinary as most of the big social media applications do the same, but the fears were centered around the parent company ByteDance and the requirement for all data to be handed over to the Chinese government if requested.

The immediate fallout was a ban of the application in perhaps its biggest market, India, as the estimated over 400 million users would need to seek out a new home. Alongside this there had been a further 59 Chinese backed apps were banned citing similar security concerns, and another 47 which had been replicas of previously banned apps went the same way too. The next big market that looks set to do the same is within the US as mounting security concerns may force the hand in a decision – the app had already been restricted from use on government-issued devices which has been further drawn upon as the Biden presidential campaign has requested the same under a similar pretense, but this has also led others to consider what position they may take as pressure continues to ensure data security as other changes to security law begins to happen.

(Image from CNN.com)

This hasn’t been the only change in the mobile application world either as others have come under changes during this recent period of time, notably within mobile gaming as adjustments to certain initiatives have caused many operators to change an approach to best suit their audience, maybe of these sites don’t register to initiatives such as gamstop and Maximum Casinos review them so existing and new players can be sure they’re safe to play on and will likely be a future change for many as concerns around data protection continue to grow.

Although there has been some reassurance given as the data handling for TikTok had been handed over to other countries such as Singapore, and the CEO position of the company had been given to an American man, the concerns continue to grow as the parent company still remains in China, much of the decisions left to be made are within the countries themselves deciding whether or not they should ban the application, and perhaps the next big question to follow is whether or not this will cause a big shift for how social media applications should operate as a whole – with an increased focus on what running out for TikTok or what tiktok is now doing wrong and how other platforms are doing very much the same, it may not be long until regulation is put in place here too.