Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 374 posts

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#71

Post by partiallypro »

I don't understand what useful information could be harvested, as unlike Google/Facebook there is no massive tracking pixel product that follows you across the web. I'm a massive critic of the CCP, but I don't see what useful information they would get from this.

I think a bigger "conspiracy theory" I'd buy into would be the algrorithm exploiting political extremes and pushing insane voices to the top...but every social media/media company does that in some way (though not always intentionally.)

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#72

Post by classified »

netcan wrote: post #26
robbedpeter wrote: post #5

It's not unclear at all. It's Chinese data harvesting software. They'll do token public appeasement to avoid negative pressure, but every feature in the app is designed to collect biometrics and behavioral data. China is not a good faith operator. Given the data needed to influence public opinion and voting, they will engage in manipulation favorable to their interests. That alone is sufficient to run tiktok at a los…

>> China is not a good faith operator. Who is? I don't mean to be trite or contrary, but TikTok is coming into an environment where norms are pretty damned shady. Google as you and the article say, also consume user data quite unethically. FB likewise surveil us for their advertising businesses. They both also happen to host and control a good chunk of political and politically adjacent content within that framework.…

Just in cast it makes any difference to you, the Chinese government, who collects all the TikTok data, is a bunch of oppressive mass murderers. Say what you will about Facebook, Google, et al., but they haven't come that far yet.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#73

Post by toyg »

sjg007 wrote: post #21
toyg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody cares because (it is perceived that) there is no political discourse on TikTok yet. It was the same for Twitter and Facebook. Then Trump happened and People With Important Jobs started paying attention to them. There has not been such a catalyst event for TikTok yet. Like with Zoom, there is a vague feeling among the security-paranoid that the Chinese are leveraging it for data-gathering, but as long as they g…

There was plenty of political discourse on TikTok in the last election cycle. Every tiktok meme had a pro Trump anti Biden version.

That's why I said "perceived". Eventually something will happen and Important People will pay attention. It just has not happened yet.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#74

Post by toqy »

taterbase wrote: post #64
cosarara wrote: post #32

What kind of data? TikTok knows what content I interact to... on tiktok. That's it. Unless they have an android 0-day or something. It has no access to my mic, camera, browsing history, contacts list, or anything useful. Guess who has access to all that, if they want it, though? Google and Facebook (through whatsapp). What is the privacy concern here, exactly?

If you've logged in it can potentially match your login information or email address to other activity on the web. TikTok's servers could also place you geographically somewhat roughly based on ip address. Outside of that I agree. It's unclear what data TikTok is supposedly gathering that other apps aren't already and why that's a cause for alarm.

Phase 1: Collect data about what users like to watch on TikTok

Phase 2: ???

Phase 3: The world is now controlled by China and we are doing full communism

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#75

Post by nsajko »

robbedpeter wrote: post #12
lelandfe wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google's been caught red handed deliberately manipulating political content Sorry, do you have a better link handy? This primarily looks like a fundraising page.

Quoted post unavailable.

Podcasts are entertainment, they're a wildly inappropriate medium for rational argumentation or giving evidence or anything similar.

Put another way, you can't expect me to spend my time listening to a podcast just to be able to guess at what your argument is.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#76

Post by Etheryte »

taterbase wrote: post #69
Etheryte wrote: post #36

One thing that I found very interesting when I looked into what TikTok does: it's scary good at aggregating data about you. I live in a foreign country, my phone's network is behind a VPN to a different foreign country and I gave the app no extra permissions, yet somehow I still got recommended content from the country where I was born. Since it's a small country there's no way that's a coincidence. I'm both intrigue…

I would guess it zeroed in on common interests. Videos you like, comment on, or even just watch for more than one time can all give clues into what interests you.

Sorry for not being clear enough, this was straight after I installed the app. I didn't search for any content or anything, I was simply recommended things that were clearly from my home country.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#77

Post by williamscales »

duxup wrote: post #48
gmm1990 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah at one point (probably still) didn't all data just go to the NSA.

>didn't all data just go to the NSA. "all" is so general that I think it's kinda hard to really address that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#78

Post by waffleiron »

blakesterz wrote: post #2

I found the actual report this is based on even more interesting: https://app.urlgeni.us/blog/new-research-across-200-ios-apps... Just a few of the highlights: Magazine apps had the highest number of total network contacts (28), and the highest percentage of third party domain contacts (93%) Social apps, followed by Games apps, made the fewest number of network contacts, 6 and 7 respectively. Apps making the most num…

Also, the report makes the title seem very biased. Home Depot, Reuters, WSJ are all using more 3th party trackers.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#79

Post by Etheryte »

gs17 wrote: post #53
Etheryte wrote: post #36

One thing that I found very interesting when I looked into what TikTok does: it's scary good at aggregating data about you. I live in a foreign country, my phone's network is behind a VPN to a different foreign country and I gave the app no extra permissions, yet somehow I still got recommended content from the country where I was born. Since it's a small country there's no way that's a coincidence. I'm both intrigue…

Does your native country use a different language and you have something set to it on your phone? I had a Korean friend get freaked out by similar, but we figured out that he had something fingerprintable set to use Korean even though his interface was set to English.

My home country does have its own language, yes, but all of my devices (and their virtual keyboards) are in English.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#80

Post by long_time_gone »

wutbrodo wrote: post #38
duxup wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They banned tik tok ?

Quoted post unavailable.

> Trump it mobilized the 99% of people who don't have beliefs as much as they have

I thought it was the judicial branch and an injunction that stopped it.

>> On 23 September 2020, TikTok filed a request for a preliminary injunction to prevent the app from being banned by the Trump administration. This request was filed with the District Court for the District of Columbia. The preliminary injunction was approved by Judge Carl J. Nichols on September 27.

Then, the current President rescinded it and ordered an actual review of the risks. Something we probably should have done prior to the attempted banning.

>> In June 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking the Trump administration ban on TikTok, and instead ordered the Secretary of Commerce to investigate the app to determine if it poses a threat to U.S. national security.

I'm confused on exactly what you think happened.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump%E2%80%93TikTok_...

Post reply on HN