Three HUGE TikTookay Stars Are Moving To Triller Over Fears Donald Trump Will Ban The App!

As the political controversy surrounding TikTookay‘s apparent connections to the Chinese government continues to heat up, three of the platform’s largest stars — with a mixed 37+ million followers on the platform — are revealing their plans to give up the app and transfer over to a rival!

Noah Beck, Josh Richards, and Griffin Johnson (pictured above, left to proper) collectively spoke to DailyMail.com about their plans this week, revealing that they’d mutually determined to slowly withdraw from the app and transfer increasingly more of their content material over to Triller, one other video-sharing platform.

Related: TikTookay Star Opens Up About Dealing With A TON Of Body Shaming Criticism

The main transfer right here stems from issues that TikTookay’s mother or father firm, ByteDance, which relies in Beijing, China, might be sharing person knowledge with the Chinese authorities. This fear first happened after 2017, when a brand new legislation was handed within the nation stating that each one native corporations “have an obligation to support and cooperate with intelligence work controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.”

The platform’s large reputation with American youngsters has lawmakers and regulators involved about whether or not their personal data is unwittingly being utilized by the federal government in Beijing. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump informed reporters his administration was “thinking about making a decision” on whether or not to ban the app within the United States because the Committee on Foreign Investment within the United States is actively reviewing it for potential nationwide safety dangers.

All that political concern has weighed closely on Richards, Johnson, and Beck as they attempt to decide their very own futures as social media stars. Worried about TikTookay’s future after POTUS’ remarks about the potential of a ban, Richards famous (under):

“Obviously it made us feel a bit unsafe about the app we were using. But it was more than just how we felt. We wanted our audience to be watching our content on an app that’s safe.”

Alarmed by the potential origin of their most well-liked app, the TikTookay trio did a few of their very own digging and found an investigation from cyber-security firm Penetrum earlier this yr which discovered that just about 40% of the identified IP addresses linked to TikTookay originate in China. Considering how the app is formally banned within the nation, that’s an alarming variety of unknown and unaccounted-for accounts, all of which will be accessed by the Chinese authorities themselves.

Other associated issues unearthed by Penetrum, equivalent to an “excessive amount of data harvesting,” and “vulnerabilities in TikTok’s code” go away the younger celebs much more anxious. For one, in response to the report, there’s a component of the social media app’s code that enables it to seize all knowledge on a person’s cellphone, together with probably all of that person’s textual content messages.

For Richards, these privateness issues — in addition to latest claims that TikTookay allegedly blocked Black Lives Matter-related movies — ought to be of utmost concern to content material creators and customers:

“As a creator, it’s our responsibility to think about the people that follow us. They give us the lifestyle we now lead – it’s all because of them. If we’re not thinking about their best interests, that shows a lot about us. TikTok — and social media platforms generally — are supposed to be a place where people can put out their ideas and beliefs. When we saw such a strong movement, getting blocked or shadow banned — that concerned us quite a bit. They weren’t taking those voices very seriously at all.”

Wow. Well stated!

Originally, the three stars debated whether or not they need to develop their very own app earlier than ultimately settling with Triller. Over the approaching months, then, the plan is for Johnson, Richards, and Beck to slowly withdraw from TikTookay, and extra incessantly put up on Triller, till they transition fully away from the China-based app.

Johnson informed DM about what went into the choice to make the transfer, saying:

“This is way bigger than just us or the platforms we have. We have the opportunity to do something far bigger than us. It’s important to look after our audience’s safety. That’s much more important to me, than me. I feel like, we’re just trying to set an example of what would be to do right now, and that’s Triller. I think other influencers will agree that it’s best for themselves and that people that follow them too. This is a great opportunity and it gives us a lot of purpose. I know I feel really safe and we’re really excited where this journey is headed.”

We’ll see if it really works…

TikTookay didn’t have a remark for the DM piece right here, although up to now the corporate has downplayed its ties to China by arguing that (1) it operates individually from mother or father firm ByteDance and (2) its knowledge facilities are all situated totally exterior of China, and thus none of its knowledge is topic to Chinese legal guidelines.

Related: Farrah Abraham Attempts To Defend Bizarre Viral TikTookay Dildo Video…

And but Joe Biden‘s presidential campaign ordered its own staff members to delete TikTok from both their personal and work phones on Monday, too. So at least judging by the upcoming American election in November, it seems like both candidates could be seriously open to cutting off the app in the US altogether. And thus it’s totally comprehensible why a few of its largest and most profitable creators would need to go away and stick with it elsewhere!

What do U take into consideration this case, Perezcious readers? Could this be the start of the tip of TikTookay’s previously-meteoric rise? Can younger social media stars like Richards, Johnson, and Beck transition to new platforms and nonetheless discover success?? And are you in any respect anxious about all of the allegations relating to the Chinese authorities’s potential skill to spy utilizing the app itself or nah?!

Sound OFF together with your tackle the whole lot right here down within the feedback (under)…

[Image via TikTok]