If it does not deny recovering information from people who do not have the application, the social network however ensures that it does not use it for commercial purposes.
Consumer Reports, a powerful American consumer association, accused the Chinese platform in a report published last Thursday of using advertising trackers to retrieve information that is largely outside the scope of its activities. A study conducted by a specialized firm found TikTok trackers on thousands of the most popular websites.
Thousands of websites share their information with TikTok
The survey conducted by this consumer association reveals that TikTok has established partnerships with many websites in order to collect as much data as possible from as many Internet users as possible. The companies concerned include a link called a “pixel” on some of their pages, collecting information about each person who visits them and transferring it to the social network.
The list of sites and organizations concerned is dizzying: there is a jumble of the Methodist Church, the Department of Economy and Security of the State of Arizona, or the company Weight Watchers. Even more worrying in a context of general decline in the right to abortion and even its criminalization in the United States, the family planning site would also be concerned. TikTok is therefore informed of each person who visits it. What the company chooses or does not choose to do with this information can therefore have very serious consequences.
Neither the facts nor their justification are new
The practice denounced by this consumer association is however far from being a first. Google and especially Meta have notably been pinned on several occasions for similar facts. The justification, moreover, is always the same and TikTok is no exception to the rule. One of its spokespersons defended the practice, explaining that it allowed the company to offer more personalized content to improve the user experience, and to conduct more targeted and therefore more effective advertising campaigns. Campaigns, still according to the platform, which would however only target its users, the data of other Internet users not being shared with advertisers. Finally, the social network guarantees that it does not collect certain information, such as that related to health or children.
Consumer Reports, however, finds these statements grossly inadequate. Meta or Google, which collect a lot of information, sometimes openly circumventing barriers that are supposed to prevent them, regularly find themselves in court for their management of personal data. In the absence of additional guarantees, nothing seems to prevent TikTok from taking the same path.
Sources: 20 minutes, Consumer Reports
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