Data collection on TikTok. Is it time to uninstall?
If you’ve been active on Twitter of Facebook, you must have come across a TikTok at some point. TikToks are short lip-synching videos or act-out memes that are backed by sound clips or music. Users make these videos, and then others can remix their renditions to post them on their pages.
This new format made the social media app explode in popularity in 2019, and the number of downloads has been off the charts since; until recently.
The Chinese app has been the latest target for data collection allegations to the extent of getting banned in certain countries.
The Chinese app isn’t new to allegations of collection of its users’ data. In February this year, the CEO of Reddit Steve Huffman criticized the app, referring to it as parasitic and spyware.
It didn’t stop there, earlier this month, the government of India banned the app alongside 58 other Chinese apps claiming the country’s defense and national security were under threat.
It will be remiss to neglect the fact that recent events have escalated the tensions in relations between China and India. But, there could be more to the allegations than just a mere political squabble.
In the US, TikTok was already banned in the military, and the government is considering banning the app altogether. The Democratic National Committee also issued warnings to its staff about the app. Companies like Wells Fargo have also told their employees to delete the app.
A Redditor reversed engineered the app and discovered that it collected a multitude of user data at abnormal proportions. The since then deleted post alleged that TikTok stored user’s network information like IP and MAC addresses, Wi-Fi access point names, hardware information, GPS, contacts information, among other details.
While other apps like Facebook also collect user data, according to the Reddit user, TikTok might be going overboard with it. It is worth noting that all this should be taken with a grain of salt as there is no way to show the allegations are factual.
What’s factual is that TikTok was accessing users’ clipboard data on iPhones after the release of the iOS 14 update. This data could include passwords, texts, and addresses. The company said that it was an anti-spam feature that resulted in the problem, but it later issued updates and fixed it.
The privacy paranoia mostly stems from the fact that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has a history of working with the Chinese government. TikTok has stated that it doesn’t store all its data in China, so users don’t have to be worried about the government getting its hands on it.
TikTok has also gone against the rules to protect user data. It made its app inaccessible to Hong Kong users after the Chinese government passed a law forcing companies operating in the country to hand over data to the government.
Existing on the internet in this day and age means forfeiting privacy and giving companies access to your data. While everyone is aware of this, Tiktok should be more forthcoming with its data collection practices, so users are aware of what’s going one behind the curtains.