Question Is tiktok safe to download (privacy)

[jyjydubya]

I've heard so many horror stories about TikTok and was wondering what you guys think...
I'm talking about the privacy aspect, I've heard they can see your keystrokes when you leave the app/site and go onto other apps or websites, is this true..?
Other then that specific, just how bad is Tiktok privacy wise..?

 

[methodman89]

From their disclosure

 

[B. Diddy]

ToS;DR is a nice website that summarizes Terms of Service agreements for you, and gives a privacy grade. TikTok doesn't do very well, which is not surprising. https://tosdr.org/en/service/1448

As for keystroke spyware, that would be completely illegal, so it's 99.9999% unlikely that the official app would include anything as egregious as that. But beware of "modded" apps that claim to include additional features (or paid features for free), since those are more likely to include malware (but these would only be available on shady site, and not the Play Store).

 

[J Dubbs]

They were in the news a while back about the fact that they were logging keystrokes when you visited other sites from within the TikTok app.. but they weren't logging keystrokes outside of it. I believe they claimed it was for the Chine.... I mean "troubleshooting purposes".

Do a search for "tiktok logging keystrokes" and you'll come up with hundreds of articles from August of last year. Do some research and make your own informed decision is all I can suggest

 

[B. Diddy]

They were in the news a while back about the fact that they were logging keystrokes when you visited other sites from within the TikTok app.. but they weren't logging keystrokes outside of it. I believe they claimed it was for the Chine.... I mean "troubleshooting purposes".

Do a search for "tiktok logging keystrokes" and you'll come up with hundreds of articles from August of last year. Do some research and make your own informed decision is all I can suggest

Egad, does TikTok have its own browser?!?

 

[J Dubbs]

Yep

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

It's as safe and private as any other social media app. Twitter and Meta aren't exactly bastions of user privacy and safety.

 

[smvim]

Yeah, I don't think TikTok does actively to more or less data mining of your personal info than Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, etc. Labeling TikTok as some kind of stand-out as far as privacy concerns is silly and only makes for click-bait articles by the pundits. Don't allow yourself to get caught up on all the fear-mongering nonsense -- when it involves most online services, we're all getting our personal data vacuumed up and that's used for good and bad purposes. That's now an unfortunate given. Just assume TikTok is going to be actively tracking you, just like dozens of other online services, and make your decision to use it or avoid it.