TikTok tracks even users who have never used the social network
Their data on third-party sites is collected using special markers
Now no one will be surprised by the information that programs track user data and actions. On the contrary, it is understood by default. However, not everyone knows that apps can track activity even if you’ve never used them or even installed them. This happens thanks to special markers embedded in the site code. An investigation by Consumer Reports magazine exposed TikTok in such actions.
The video service TikTok installs trackers called ‘pixels’ on hundreds of websites. Consumer Reports studied about 20,000 sites for TikTok tags. The pool includes the 1,000 most visited resources and many of the largest .org, .edu, and .gov domains because they tend to contain sensitive user data. As it turns out, TikTok data is shared by the United Methodist Church, the Arizona Department of Economic Security and other organizations that have sensitive personal and business information about users.
TikTok ‘pixels’ regularly transmit site visitors’ IP addresses, unique identification numbers, pages viewed, and send logs of keystrokes, typed text, and search queries. This activity is independent of whether the user has a TikTok account.
Consumer Reports reports that the number of Meta and Google tags found far outnumber those from TikTok. This is natural, given that the video service’s ad platform is new to most markets, while Google and Facebook/Meta have been tracking for years.
Consumer Reports notes that such actions are possible only thanks to the secret hiding of embedded data. During the investigation, some of the organizations were notified about TikTok tokens on their sites, after which the researchers discovered that the corresponding pixels had been removed from them. However, Microsoft, Google and other company labels remained on the sites.
Consumer Reports calls the use of alternative browsers, extensions and applications that limit network activity for security and privacy purposes as a means of combating tracking.
