Surveillance and Privacy in Digital Media: A Case Study of TikTok and Further Discussion

Abstract

The functions of social media platforms have undergone profound transformations due to rapid technological and social advancements. Traditional information exchange functions can no longer cater to the evolving needs of social communication and regulation. In the digital media age, information monitoring and dissemination are ubiquitous. For example, agreeing to various permissions when logging into a website, while improving the efficiency of information flow , also erodes the boundaries of personal privacy that were previously unbreached by traditional media . In this process of breaking down and crossing boundaries, the privacy boundaries belonging to the users themselves are also being reshaped. How to appropriately delineate the scope of governance and surveillance amid these dissolving and reshaping boundaries has emerged as a critical research agenda in contemporary academic and policy discourse. This paper will use a literature review approach to explore cases represented by the Facebook data breach and the US government's restrictions on TikTok, examining the trade-offs and dilemmas between government monitoring and personal privacy in the digital environment. This paper finds that while governments issue regulatory measures to protect citizens' information security, they frequently give rise to substantial controversies concerning privacy safeguarding, urgently requiring a more balanced governance path.