It was an app first derided as trivial and tedious, cast aside as the space reserved for dancing and internet trends.
TikTok Australia has argued the video-sharing app, which attracts more than 1.3 global users, is being unfairly singled out.
With Australia, the US, and other Western countries up in arms about the level of threat TikTok poses to national security, here's what sets the app apart from the rest.
Does TikTok really collect more data than other social media apps?
An analysis by Australian cybersecurity firm Internet 2.0 stacked TikTok against its social media competitors - as well as other popular platforms - to understand whether the concern around TikTok was being overstated.
Tom Kenyon, a non-executive director of Internet 2.0, said the confirm there is more than enough cause for concern.
There's no reason to give your calendar to TikTok. It doesn't need to know who you're meeting with.Tom Kenyon, non-executive director of cybersecurity firm Internet 2.0
"TikTok is collecting a whole bunch of information that it doesn't need to run its app," he told The Feed.
While everything from Gmail to Whatsapp requires data to optimise the in-app experience, TikTok goes beyond what is necessary, he said.
"There's no reason to give your calendar to TikTok. It doesn't need to know who you're meeting with."
TikTok also tracks what other apps you have running on your phone, has access to your clipboard which could contain passwords, logs your keystrokes, and collects location data so precise, it knows how high above sea level you are, Mr Kenyon said.
"TikTok takes more than anyone else."
He said any app collecting that much data, even one without the politically-charged context, would be met with scrutiny.
David Tuffley a Griffith University Senior lecturer on cybersecurity agreed that the phone permissions sought by the app were well beyond what is normal.
"[It's] way more than any social media app that just wants to be a social media app would need to have access to," Dr Tuffley said.
But not all experts see it the same way.
This is a real problem. It's not a theoretical issue.John Lee, senior fellow at the US-based Hudson Institute
Monash University Cybersecurity Professor Nigel Phair felt the heightened scrutiny around TikTok was unfair.
“They all collect about the same amount [of information]. There's some little varieties around that,” Mr Phair.
But wait, I thought ByteDance couldn't access TikTok's data?
In late March, TikTok's chief executive Shou Zi Chew faced a five-hour grilling from US Congress members who are convinced the Chinese-owned app is a "tool" of the Chinese Communist Party. They also voiced fear over the harm it could have on children's mental health.
Amid calls for a complete ban, Mr Chew's testified that the app instead created economic value and supported free speech.
For a long time, TikTok insisted data collected by its servers (based in Singapore and the US) could not be accessed by anyone associated with parent company ByteDance in China.
In July 2022, Internet 2.0 published its report disproving this.
In November 2022, the company changed its privacy policy, saying staff in China could indeed access this information.
The US uses 'far-reaching' laws to spy on foreigners too
Much of the worry around TikTok is fuelled by fears the Chinese Communist Party will compel ByteDance to hand over its data under national security laws.
People oppose a TikTok ban on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC in March 2023. Source: AFP, Getty / Brendan Smialowski
John Lee is a senior fellow at the US-based Hudson Institute. He said it's not a theoretical issue, it's one that appears to have already happened.
"Under Chinese law, all Chinese companies public and private, have to abide by very far-reaching national security and national intelligence legislation," Mr Lee told The Feed.
"This legislation essentially compels Chinese firms in China and operating overseas to give any information that is demanded of them by the Chinese Communist Party.
"This is a real problem. It's not a theoretical issue."
In December 2022, TikTok admitted to spying on four US-based journalists to track down their sources. The data was accessed by employees of ByteDance and was used to track the reporters’ physical movements.
ByteDance said four employees, both in the US and in China, had been fired for the incident.
The second issue, Mr Lee explains, is that China could compel Chinese firms to manipulate their algorithm to influence foreign users.
TikTok has previously told the Feed it can deprioritise content that promotes certain topics or people which don't align with its community standards.
Hypothetically, the algorithm could be changed to deprioritise or censor material that doesn't align with the CCP. The algorithm could also be optimised to surface other content.
"TikTok has been accused quite credibly, I think, of censoring videos about politically sensitive subjects for China, like Tibetan independence, like the Tiananmen Square Massacre, " Mr Lee said.
This could turn next to the topics of Taiwan's independence, the South China Sea, and the Dalai Lama, he said. The difficulty here though is this often comes to light once it's too late.
"Do we feel comfortable with the Chinese Communist party through platforms like Tiktok, having some role in the shaping of Australian attitudes and popular culture, especially amongst our younger populations?"
The US, the homeland of most other social giants, can spy on emails phones, and online communications under its Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - and without a warrant.
Critics of the West's scrutiny of TikTok have tried to draw parallels between the two.
TikTok is facing a ban in the United States and on Australian government phones. Source: Getty / NurPhoto
"[The US'] powers are subject to judicial review. They're subject to media scrutiny, they're subject to scrutiny by the ombudsman and other regulatory bodies ... you can't just use them," he said.
Ultimately, TikTok's acceptance comes down to the difference in governance between China and the Western world.
"The nature of the regime, and what the regime is allowed to do in China is just incomparable to any of the other Western democracies that we're talking about."
What do experts think we should do with TikTok in Australia?
If Australia had a social media giant as popular as TikTok Mr Lee said it would only be allowed to exist in China with heavy regulation - if at all.
And as TikTok's popularity grows, reaching any decisions on how Australia should act should come sooner rather than later.
"The longer you wait to either regulate or ban Tiktok, the harder will be because it will get more and more popular," he said.
Regulation, though, would be extremely costly.
Mr Kenyon, who is having a debate with his kids on whether their TikTok use is really all that important, is calling for a nationwide ban.
"A foreign country that is hostile to Western society, is able to access a really compelling picture of Western democracies, how they are by country and on an individual level," he said.
And if he could reduce it all to one message it would be this.
"It doesn't provide anything uniquely good. Anything it does can be replicated … And we can get rid of all of the stuff that we don't want."
The Feed has sought comment from TikTok.
