Ask from any teenager today about their go-to-social media app to pass time, most of them will mention Tiktok. This short-video based social media app gained a massive following after revitalizing the app Music.ly, which already had a significant impact on the social medial space.
Despite the significant growth, there have been several issues that would arise due to the App’s ownership being Chinese origin and the USA’s constant speculations over the privacy and use of data. Were such accusations on the app real? Let’s try to dig deep in the privacy statement and terms of service of Tiktok.
The app requires and collects basic account information such as username, date of birth, email, mobile number when you sign up directly to the service. Also if you choose to register using other social media accounts (Eg:- Facebook, Twitter, etc.) it will provide your username and public profile on that social media site and in return, Tiktok will share information such as App ID, Access Token, Referring URL. This will allow other Social Media to track and identify your account.
To “infer your likely interests” Tiktok will use both information you provide them with Third-party information which will include data such as websites visited, apps you have downloaded and purchases you have made. As same as other apps, Tiktok also collects data related to your device’s software, hardware and network details and configurations.
We allow our business partners, advertising networks, and other advertising vendors and service providers (including analytics vendors and service providers) to collect information about your online activities through Cookies
Such data can be used to identify a particular person across multiple websites and apps. “We link your contact or subscriber information with your activity on our Platform across all your devices, using your email or other log-in or device information” So for what Tiktok use all our information for? There is a lengthy list that they provide and following are some of the “reasons”.
- notify you about changes to our service;
- provide you with user support;
- enable you to share User Content and interact with other users;
- enable our messenger service to function if you choose to use this function;
Further, it will share with advertisers and other third-parties information such as”…how many and which users of the Platform have viewed or clicked on an advertisement” Along with your Device ID.
How long will your details remain on the Tiktok servers? Their privacy statement doesn’t provide any specific time period other than “only for so long as we have a legitimate business purpose in keeping such data” After you terminate your use of service they will still store your information in an aggregated and anonymised format.
Here’s some good news! You can request Tiktok to;
- Not share your data with Third-parties
- Disclose the data they have related to you
- Erase and dispose of your personal data
But they also state that it by doing so they “may not be able to fulfil your requests and you may not be able to use some of TikTok features and functionality”
You have to email privacy@tiktok.com to exercise your rights
Editor