In the footsteps of the United States, Hungary also investigates the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform, TikTok

As of September 20, 2020, the United States banned the download of the Chinese-owned video-sharing app, TikTok- which is mostly popular with the young generation -, citing security risks. TikTok denied that user data had been shared with Chinese authorities and filed a complaint to the Washington Federal Court in order to suspend the government’s regulation because, in their view, the authorities acted outside their jurisdiction, which violates the company’s rights under the U.S. Constitution.

It is also worth noting, that the U.S. investigation and the regulation regarding TikTok may also be associated with political interests since the Chinese-owned application - which is very popular in the United States - has been targeted as a result of the years of trade war between the United States and China. Nowadays, Oracle, which can be associated with the President, has tried to acquire the company, which was also the aim of Microsoft earlier, but the attempt was unsuccessful. Donald Trump previously claimed that if the application will not become the interest of the United States, he would ban the app.

Concerns about TikTok video-share app were also raised by the Hungarian Competition Authority and announced that an investigation was initiated against the company on October 8, 2020. It was emphasized that the reason for initiating the procedure was that “The company does not inform consumers with the professional diligence expected in accordance with the principles of good faith and fairness on the operation of the online platform - for example, the scope of data processed during the use of the service and their use”. The authority was also concerned that TikTok did not make the information on the terms of use of the service available in Hungarian language, and that the company may not have acted with due care to mitigate the exposure of children using the service to advertisements. The latter circumstance is also significant since according to statistics, 60% of TikTokusers are aged between 16 and 24, whose rights are subject to stricter data protection legislation, which is the primary responsibility of data controllers.