Taylor Swift partners with TikTok for new album promotion, sparking data privacy concerns

One of the major fears of TikTok's popularity is the direct data pipeline to China that contains immeasurable amounts of data on American citizens.

Breitbart reported this week that TikTok has struck a deal with pop megastar Taylor Swift "to highlight her new album The Tortured Poets Department."

The outlet continued, warning that the deal could give TikTok's Chinese parent company "access to millions of global user accounts and all the associated personal data that delivers."

The outlet explained the massive deal:

Variety reports after Swift dropped her latest work at midnight Eastern time on Friday — followed by a surprise 15 additional songs, revealing it’s a double album — TikTok followed up on Friday to announce “The Tortured Poets Department” in-app experience, featuring what it boasts are multiple “first-of-its-kind” features.

Included in the special promotional deal are new features rolled out by TikTok that will direct millions of users to her new album.

The hidden story of Taylor Swift's "Tortured Poets Department" album release is right out of @peterschweizer's "Blood Money." TikTok is a means for CCP data mining & psy-warfare. The pop star is helping the Communist regime with exclusive interactive content on their platform. pic.twitter.com/l7llW6lEkZ

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 19, 2024

Social media users reacted to Swift's new promotion deal with TikTok, with many indicating that they are not surprised that she would be a part of such marketing efforts that stand to benefit the Chinese government.

"She's the first artist to become a billionaire on their music alone. So of course, her next business decision is to work for the CCP. I mean, it makes perfect sense," one X user wrote.

Another X user wrote, "Given @TheDemocrats continued partnership with the CCP and @taylorswift13 this doesn't surprise me in the least."

After TikTok was taken to task by Congress two years ago, the company agreed to move its U.S. user data to Texas, calling it "Project Texas."

"Project Texas is an unprecedented initiative dedicated to making every American on TikTok feel safe, with confidence that their data is secure and the platform is free from outside influence," the company announced at the time.

Breitbart noted:

This endeavor, however, is “largely cosmetic,” and TikTok staff continued to work closely with Beijing-based ByteDance executives after Project Texas was implemented, several former employees of the app told Fortune:

Only time will tell how much extra data Swift will generated for TikTok and its CCP-linked parent company.