Video social networking app TikTok reportedly infringes on user privacy in more ways than previously understood.
TikTok is able to circumvent code screenings by the Apple and Google app stores and can even change the app’s behavior and capabilities without users’ knowledge, thereby giving its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and third parties access to all user data, according to two major cybersecurity studies recently obtained by the Wrap.
Such user data access is unexpected and exceeds the abilities of other major social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
“These dynamic properties allow TikTok carte blanche access to your device within the scope of what the application can see,” Frank Lockerman, a cyber threat engineer at cybersecurity firm Conquest Cyber, told the outlet.
“The TikTok browser not only has access to convert from web to device, but it also has the ability to query things on the device itself,” said Lockerman, who reviewed the two cyber studies.
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Furthermore, TikTok shares more user data with third-party trackers than any other social media app, according to another recent study published last month by mobile marketing company URL Genius.
TikTok claims that its user data access is normal for the social media industry and phone apps that rely on ads, but the two cybersecurity studies conducted on the platform suggest otherwise.
“It seems to me that ByteDance has gone to monumental lengths — possibly more than Facebook, Twitter and other social networks — to conceal the inner workings of their app,” Russ Jowell, mobile development expert at BestApp.com, told the Wrap after reviewing the cyber studies’ findings.
TikTok declined to confirm or deny the validity of the research when asked for comment by the outlet. The platform maintains that its U.S. apps and data are walled off from its parent company, which has ties to the Chinese government.
“The security and privacy of our global community is always a top priority,” TikTok said in a statement. “Staying ahead of next-generation cyberthreats requires continuously strengthening the security of our platform, which is why we continually work to validate our security standards and collaborate with industry-leading experts to test our defenses.”
A TikTok spokesperson also said that the company follows Apple’s and Google’s app store policies and highlighted that TikTok meets security standards in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, and Singapore. Apple and Google did not respond to the Wrap’s requests for comment regarding the TikTok cybersecurity studies.
However, some countries, including India, have banned the app for national security concerns.
TikTok first came into the political spotlight when former President Donald Trump tried to ban the app in 2020 and pushed the parent company to sell the app.
Senate Republicans last year even reintroduced legislation to ban TikTok from government devices, citing the Chinese-owned platform as a major national security risk.
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The No TikTok on Government Devices Act was initially introduced in 2020 and passed unanimously in the Senate with both parties’ support that year, but it was not voted on in the House.
