Cybersecurity experts have warned Australian TikTokers that the Chinese government could use the application to extract personal information. The information includes in-app messages with friends to precise device locations.
A report by Australian-US Cybersecurity firm Internet 2.0 found that the most popular social media app TikTok collects an ‘’excessive’’ amount of information from users. And warn Australians to keep their information secure, and take necessary precautions.
What information does Tiktok collect from users?
The popular app collects information including contact lists, and access to calendars, scan hard drives including external ones and also geolocates devices on an hourly basis. Robert Potter, co-CEO of Internet 2.0 said, ‘’ when the app is in use, it has significantly more permissions than it needs. It grants those permissions by default. When a user doesn’t permit it… [TikTok] persistently asks.’’
He further added, “If you tell Facebook you don’t want to share something, it won’t ask you again. TikTok is much more aggressive.” According to the report, the data collection practice is ‘’overly intrusive’’ and requires explanation.
“The application can and will run successfully without any of this data being gather. This leads us to believe that the only reason this information has been gather is for data harvesting,” it concluded.
Chinese authorities can access device data
Although TikTok is owned by the Chinese Multinational internet company ByteDance, the report claims that Chinese authorities can access device data. Meanwhile, ByteDance has denied the allegations saying that the app isn’t accessible to Chinese authorities. It called the claim ‘’misinformation’’.
Meanwhile, the Australian government is very clear about social media policy. Potter said Australia must be clear “that we expect social media companies operating in Australia to respect our norms of privacy and freedom of speech”.
“They need to be clear about how they operate. And if caught lying consistently, we need to have some way of holding those companies to account.
Also, TikTok has rejected the Internet 2.0 report as “baseless”.
A TikTok spokesperson said: “The TikTok app is not unique in the amount of information it collects … We collect information that users choose to provide to us and information that helps the app function, operate securely, and improve the user experience.
