The social network TikTok has been questioned by Australian security experts about the possibility of collecting information. The micro-video app was flagged for collecting data and links to the Chinese government. What cyber experts point out focuses on the collection of personal information, through messaging between friends and even sending locations between devices.
The report by Internet 2.0, an Australian-American cybersecurity firm, found that the popular app is collecting an excessive amount of information from its users. This situation began to generate some fear or doubts among the most popular profiles of the app, which had its “explosion” in times of pandemic.
TikTok and the fear of espionage
The collection methods used by the Chinese app include the ability to collect a list of contacts. Likewise, access to calendars, scanning of hard disks and daily geolocation of devices. The cybersecurity firm explained that “when the application is in use, it has many more permissions than it really needs”.
An example of this is that if you tell Facebook that you do not want to share a piece of information, it will not ask you again. However, Tiktok is much more aggressive and insistent. The report presented by Internet 2.0 understands that these data collection practices are “too intrusive”. Tiktok is based in Beijing and is owned by Internet ByteDance. The company denied any connection with the Chinese government and claimed misinformation was being given.
