What Data Does TikTok Collect? – Here’s Everything We Know

TikTok is a video-sharing app that allows its users to create and share 15 seconds videos. This application is mostly used by teenagers to express themselves by singing, dancing, and lip-syncing. It’s a Chinese social media platform owned by ByteDance. Over the last few years, a lot of questions have arisen about the integrity and privacy of the application. So, what data does TikTok Collect?

• TikTok Plans To Relocate Its Headquarters To London
• Will TikTok Come Back In India?

What data does TikTok collect?

The famous and popular social media platform, known for creating, sharing, and discovering short music videos is now being accused of illegally and secretly harvesting users’ data and sending it to China.

TikTok collects a huge amount of data which includes:

• Videos saved in drafts.
• Location of the user.
• Videos watched by the user.
• Also, which are liked or commented on.
• Which phone is getting used.
• Keystroke rhythm people exhibit when they type.
• Content of messages exchanged by the user with others.
• Personal data such as phone number, username, password, email, and age.
• Payment information.

Social media giants; including Facebook and Twitter, are also known to collect user information. But TikTok is facing intense scrutiny because, in the past Chinese mobile applications have been flagged for tracking private data, which weren’t necessary for their functioning. This data was then used by advertising platforms, without user consent.

Could China use TikTok to spy on people?

The U.S administration has claimed that there is a possibility that China can spy on people using TikTok. But TikTok has denied the accusation, as there is no proof. A new report has called those denials into question.

By saying that the social media collects caches of your personal data, and also collaborates with the CCP, expanding China’s observation and suppression reach on the other side of its borders.

Using just your location, a facial reconstructing program, can easily predict your appearance. This seemingly unimportant data can make your country susceptible to security breaches through geotargeting attack systems with advanced pattern projections. Just by tracking user movements unnoticed, a simple smartphone application can be more dangerous than a missile.

Should I stop using TikTok?

Information stored by TikTok can get used to manage public narratives and disseminate propaganda. So it’s better to delete the application. However, deleting the application does not mean you are safe from foreign influence campaigns and attempts to steal your personal information.

You should better be careful before sharing any personal information to any networking site; and it’s best to consider that most of the social networking platforms are compromised at a certain level.