Kevin Tracy has been vindicated yet again! Social media networks are not to be trusted with your data!

BuzzFeed has reported that Americans' Tik Tok data has been repeatedly accessed by Chinese authorities, despite years of assurances that the Chinese-owned social media company was not sharing that data with the Communist government of China. Remember, in a Communist country like China, everything is owned by the state.

Kevin Tracy has adamantly refused to download the app, create an account, or even click on links to Tik Tok content for just this concern, and has been warning everyone of the risk of using Tik Tok for two years. Despite being ridiculed and written of as a conspiracy theorist; which couldn't be further from the truth; Mr. Tracy stood by his claim of Chinese spying and today is vindicated.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has urged the Apple App Store and Google Play store to remove the Tik Tok app from their platforms. Likewise, several Republican Senators have written to Tik Tok to demand answers and presumably put the pressure on the overnight social media juggernaut to leave China or risk losing all of the United States market.

While Tik Tok leaving China and freeing its users of Chinese oppression would be a positive development, the fact remains that your data is not safe with ANY centralized social media company.

The options are to use decentralized social media platforms, such as the Federverse, or (as Kevin Tracy has long advocated) encourage the rediscovery of the magic of personal websites using IndieWeb standards and perhaps a revisiting of RSS with new functionality; which hasn't been updated in 13 years.

Whatever you do, however, uninstall Tik Tok if you have it and NEVER USE IT AGAIN!