Following a TikTok ban in the United States, phones and iPads with the TikTok app preinstalled are for sale, and some people appear to be buying. Experts believe it is a security disaster waiting to happen.
TikTok is really outlawed in the United States, despite appearances to the contrary. A legislation prohibiting the app went into effect on January 19, prompting it to temporarily go offline in the United States before President Donald Trump issued an executive order granting TikTok a 75-day extension.
However, Trump’s decree does not officially overturn the ban. Instead, it directs the US Attorney General not to enforce the legislation for the time being. As a result, some critical institutions remain apprehensive, notably the app shops that allow people to download it in the first place. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act prohibits app shops and internet hosting services from distributing, maintaining, or updating TikTok.
So far, Apple and Google have complied. In other words, you can still use TikTok if you already have it installed on your smartphone. If not, then you’re out of luck.
However, other people have seen this as an opportunity. People around the United States are selling secondhand phones with the TikTok app preinstalled on online marketplaces such as eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Esty, and others – frequently at exorbitant prices. In some cases, they’re asking for prices comparable to those for a new car. You can buy one for yourself if you have the money. The only question is how much of your digital security are you ready to compromise.
Some see a chance to cash in. One eBay vendor, who talked with the BBC on the condition of anonymity, has a Samsung Galaxy Note9 for sale. It’s an older model that would generally retail for $250 (about £200). However, with the TikTok app loaded, the seller is asking for $50,000 (£40,145). However, the price is adjustable. “The lowest I’ll go is $15,000,” the vendor says. So far, they have not received any proposals.
“It’s a bad actor’s dream to sell someone a phone that you know they’re going to use all day without wiping it first. There could be anything loaded on these devices – Ryan McGrady”
On TikTok, a number of American users have produced videos encouraging others to try selling old smartphones with the app installed, promising high payouts. A Facebook Marketplace trader in New York claims the videos motivated him. “I don’t know whether the app is really getting banned, but I’m going to try to get something from it,” the merchant informs me. His admittedly ancient iPhone is likewise valued at $50,000. “I did it to see if I get lucky,” he explains.
A simple search on an online marketplace will reveal countless more iPhones, iPads, and Android devices with TikTok on them for sale at comparable costs. It appears unlikely that anyone will pay five figures, although several have already sold for more affordable prices, according to a check of completed products on eBay. However, in most cases, phones with TikTok loaded sell for no more than their regular price, which ranges from a few hundred to slightly more than $1,000 depending on the model. It is also important to remember that completed listings should not always be accepted at face value. However, they might offer you an idea of where the market has settled.
The listings make for a humorous yarn, but there are serious ramifications at stake, according to Ryan McGrady, a computer scientist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the United States.
“You might think ‘this is just an app,’ but people become attached to online services and act out of desperation when they suddenly get taken away,” says McGrady. And where there is desperation, criminals will take advantage. “You just have to go back to the lesson of Flappy Bird,” adds the man.
“Forlorn TikTok refugees are sure to encounter instructions online for VPNs, jailbreaking techniques and other promised roads to bring back the app. It would be simple to steer unsuspecting users into a digital trap“
Flappy Bird was a mobile game in which players controlled a bird as it attempted to fly between green pipes without colliding. Flappy Bird became so popular in 2013 that the developer, Dong Nguyen, was reportedly earning $50,000 (£30,467) each day until he abruptly removed the game from the app store. Nguyen claimed at the time that he couldn’t manage the stress of handling a “addictive product”.
Scammers pounced almost immediately. Phones with Flappy Bird loaded saturated the market, as did copy-cat apps promising to restore the lost game. The problem was that many came infected with viruses and malware. Some apps gained control of the phone’s text messages and began texting premium phone numbers, incurring expenses on people’s phone bills.
“It’s a lousy actor’s fantasy to sell someone a phone they’ll use all day without first cleaning it. “Anything could be loaded onto these devices,” McGrady argues. “If people were willing to take risks for Flappy Bird, you can bet they will cut the same corners to reconnect with people on TikTok.”
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Forlorn TikTok users are also likely to come across instructions online for VPNs, jailbreaking techniques, and other promised ways to bring the service back. McGrady believes it would be simple to lead naïve consumers into a digital trap.
It’s an unfortunate conclusion, especially given what the TikTok ban was intended to accomplish in the first place, he argues.
The US government’s reservations regarding TikTok stemmed from its Chinese ownership. Specifically, senators warn that China may use the app to gather data or influence the information that users see.
More like this:
• The ghosts of India’s TikTok: What happens when a social media app is banned
• How America’s porn wars could change your internet
• What dies with TikTok? As a ban looms, Americans face a cultural void
The laws governing what firms can do with personal data in the United States are a disorganized patchwork of regulations. Unlike Europe, the United States does not have a comprehensive privacy law. Similarly, policymakers around the world have made no real progress on effective laws governing algorithmic transparency, which may allay concerns about the content that users are presented.
