Sharon Knowles, the CEO of Da Vinci Forensics and Cybersecurity, advises people to individually take responsibility of their data privacy, because at the end of the day regulation can only do so little. Knowles was weighing in on the TikTok bans you’ve been hearing about in the media space of late.

She says the Facebook-Cambridge Analytics data scandal is a reminder that after the public outrage dies down, most platforms find a way around all these regulatory interventions, thus stressing the importance of taking responsibility for your own data privacy. 

According to the New York Times and London Observer:  "Cambridge Analytica, a big data company focused on political and commercial ad campaigns, paid for illegally obtained personal information of 50 million Facebook users". 

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The Da Vinci Forensics and Cybersecurity CEO tells the OFM Business Hour, our data is out there anyway via all the social media platforms we utilise, but it’s important to take note of which data you’re giving out.

Background on the TikTok wars: 

TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, stands accused of sharing user data from its popular video-sharing app with the Chinese government, or push propaganda and misinformation on its behalf. 

Knowles says several countries have as a result introduced bans to TikTok on federal devices. These countries include the likes of the India, the United States of American and Australia. Whereas Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia banned the app for moral reasons. In late March TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced a four-and-a-half-hour grilling session before Congress in the US over the aforementioned data matter. 

Our CEO, @shouchew, shares a special message on behalf of the @tiktok_us team to thank our community of 150 million Americans on TikTok ahead of his congressional hearing later this week. Learn more on our Newsroom ?? https://t.co/VHMcSZKxQL

— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) March 21, 2023

Knowles shares, TikTok has gone to some lengths to reassure the public regarding the aforementioned data privacy concerns. They have appointed a Chief Information Security Officer and have established a Transparency Centre where regulators and third-party experts can examine data privacy practices. She maintains this still somewhat futile, as the onus remains on individuals to safeguard their data privacy. 

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China’s foreign ministry has now also accused the US itself of spreading disinformation about TikTok’s potential security risks following a report in the Wall Street Journal that the committee on foreign investment in the US was threatening a US ban on the app unless its Chinese owners divest their stake.

OFM Business Hour