Brandon WallaceMar 2, 2023
Chris Trottier

TikTok knows a worrying amount of data about you. Here's what it tracks:

1. Device
2. OS
3. Location
4. Keystroke patterns or rhythms
5. Battery state
6. Audio settings
7. Connected audio devices
8. Objects and scenery in videos
9. Existence and location of face and body
10. Text of words spoken

They can do a lot with that data!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tiktok-data-collection-privacy-1.6763626

If you use TikTok, the app is collecting a staggering amount of information about you | CBC News

One of the hottest TikTok trends right now seemingly is Western governments banning the immensely popular app from their employees' phones and launching probes into its data collection practices. 

CBC
Mar 1, 2023 at 10:43pmElk
Show threadStarkMar 1, 2023

@atomicpoet

When #Whatsapp updated their #privacy policy, they revealed the collect the same data. Most apps do, #Microsoft is one of the worst companies when it comes to privacy, and y'all still use #Linkedin!

Show threadLuna-Nelle Mar 1, 2023
@Stark9837 @atomicpoet WhatsApp is a Facebook app, I dont think we needed much more to know it was collecting data.
Show threadScot CloseMar 1, 2023
@atomicpoet How does this compare to other apps?
Show thread“G” 🇨🇦 🇵🇸 🇱🇧Mar 2, 2023
@scotclose @atomicpoet it doesn’t, except that it’s China collecting the data now
Show threadAbhi Beckert 🇺🇦Mar 4, 2023
@scotclose @atomicpoet throughout WWII data collected *before the war for legitimate purposes* was used extensively to do serious harm. A record of you attending a wedding 15 years earlier could get you sent to a concentration camp. After WWII the world made privacy a human right to stop that happening again. But here we are ignoring lessons from the past. How is TikTok different? People are more likely to listen when we complain about their invasion of privacy.
Show threadScot CloseMar 4, 2023
@abhibeckert @atomicpoet Shutting down TikTok will not stop people from collecting data. TikTok is just a symptom. If you want to fix the problem, identify the cause and target that.
Show threadAbhi Beckert 🇺🇦Mar 6, 2023

@scotclose @atomicpoet I don't think we should "shut down” TikTok unless there's evidence they've broken some law, which AFAIK they haven’t? At least not in the US, maybe in the EU they might be in breach of the GDPR.

I believe we can stop data collection especially by widely used products. It's pretty simple - they should be forced to pay for third party audits. If the audits find unnecessary data collection, then they need to change that (or be shut down).

Show threadScot CloseMar 6, 2023
@abhibeckert @atomicpoet I think we should explicitly identify the dangerous things TikTok is doing and ban any product that does them.
Show threadJon Lasser is Hanging in thereMar 1, 2023
@atomicpoet I’m honestly much more worried about manipulating the algorithm to shape public conversation.
Show threadf*cking b*tch clubMar 1, 2023
@atomicpoet Forgive my ignorance, but what can possibly be learned by knowing the status of my battery? What am I missing?
Show threadMeow.tar.gz  Mar 1, 2023
@atomicpoet Basically it's China's plutocratic wet dream of spyware. I refuse to recognize China as communist. It is nominally capitalist, also with a huge divide between the rich and the working class.
Show threadMast0b1tMar 1, 2023

@atomicpoet

Reminder: if the #app is #free, *you* are the product.

Show threadRrandallMar 2, 2023
@atomicpoet Gross.
Show threadKevin Gault🫥Mar 2, 2023
@atomicpoet I refuse to install it despite cries by our social media team in marketing to sign up and like the company.
Show threadNetizenSMar 2, 2023
@atomicpoet I deleted TikTok, but what happens when watching the TikTok’s through YouTube?
Show threadthe_blackwell_ninja [EST]Mar 2, 2023
@atomicpoet Disturbing, and completely emblematic of the typical practices that you'll find at all well known social media and big-tech companies, American and otherwise.
Show threadSteve WilliamsMar 2, 2023

@atomicpoet @TruthSandwich I would say that the majority of the users know they are the product , and are being tracked.

But 99% of the audience is watching the other 1%’s content and simply doesn't care.

At this point of the show, ’Free’ might have had its means permanently debased.

Show threadJake CarpenterMar 2, 2023
@atomicpoet
TikTok does it: 😱
Literally every other social app run by a tech company does it AND sells it to advertisers with identifying information: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Show threadMichael GartenbergMar 2, 2023

@atomicpoet1

Couldn't We say the same
about Google?>
@[email protected]

Show threadPeter BrownMar 2, 2023
@atomicpoet is that information available from simply playing TikTok videos, or by recording them?
Show threadNeonriserMar 3, 2023
@atomicpoet Spread this like wildfire!