Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Forbes investigative journalist Baker-White debuts with an in-depth account of the struggle between the U.S. and China to control TikTok. She details the meteoric rise of the video-sharing app launched in 2016 by Chinese tech company ByteDance, and profiles those responsible for its growth, including founder Zhang Yiming, who helped develop the app's recommendation algorithm. TikTok exploded during the Covid-19 pandemic, becoming the first Chinese social media app to be widely adopted in the U.S. A legal battle ensued between the two countries as American lawmakers grew concerned about the app's ability to surveil users and sway public opinion. In gripping detail, Baker-White explains how, with the help of whistleblowers in 2022, she broke the story that private U.S. user data was available to ByteDance employees in China and exposed the company's efforts to surveil U.S. citizens, including herself. She offers a comprehensive account of congressional efforts to force ByteDance to sell TikTok, exploring the nuances of the debate between people concerned about freedom of speech and those worried about national security. Readers will be riveted. (Sept.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Inside the creation and survival strategies of the controversial social media app. In concept, TikTok shouldn't be controversial at all. It's designed to deliver short, generally upbeat video content algorithmically aligned to users' interests. But it's been entangled in politics practically from the start, as Baker-White's well-researched book explains. Chinese entrepreneur Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance, TikTok's parent company in 2012, and the app itself in 2016; in a few short years it became an international phenomenon--unusual for a Chinese social media company. Because Chinese companies operate at the pleasure of the Chinese Communist Party, TikTok has been subject to questions about whether U.S. user data is fed to the CCP. An internal effort to partition U.S. user data, called Project Texas, has proved imperfect at best; Baker-White, a technology reporter at Forbes, depicts an anonymous source's realization that the company was riddled with security holes, and the author herself found evidence that she was surveilled by the company while reporting on it. Those issues prompted congressional intervention, which the company's U.S. leadership tried to wriggle out of via lobbying and efforts at tighter restrictions. But its main strategy has been to appease Donald Trump, who despite ordering a ban on the app in 2020, has facilitated its survival to spite Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a perceived enemy, and because he sees the company as willing to pay his administration "key money" (i.e., funding for pet projects). It's no way to govern, but it keeps the app alive in the U.S. Baker-White, who broke numerous stories around Project Texas and Trump's self-dealing around the app, delivers a thorough accounting of the story; those looking for a narrative as vibrant as what the app serves will have to look elsewhere. But its seriousness is an asset, and an object lesson of what happens when international security becomes a casual plaything. Smart and sober business reporting. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
