Privacy activists continue to warn about the potential collection of user data by the Chinese government through TikTok, with new concerns emerging that the app may gather information from other applications installed on smartphones.
The European privacy organization NOYB, based in Vienna, accused TikTok of monitoring user activity within other apps. Analysts in a recent report said they found evidence suggesting TikTok admitted to a user that it collects information about other platforms they use, as well as the purpose of that usage.
The collected data reportedly includes details such as “adding a product to a shopping cart” in another app, and user activity on a dating platform. Kleanthi Sardeli, a data protection lawyer at NOYB, stated that TikTok, similar to some American apps, increasingly gathers data from external sources, calling this practice a violation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, did not comment on the allegations when contacted by the German Press Agency.
Sources - Agencies
