Modern technology has put us all under the microscope, so we have become monitors from the electronic devices that we deal with completely. So what about social networking sites that have become an addiction for everyone?
Social media sites seem to be following your every move, collecting massive amounts of personal data from millions of unwilling users, but some are more information-gathering than others.
TikTok is the largest data-gathering tool, collecting more information than any other social media app, according to a study conducted by the Internet 2.0 cybersecurity company, and reported by the Daily Mail.
The world’s most popular video-sharing app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has about 1 billion active users worldwide, but has more than twice as many trackers in its source code as the industry average, according to the newspaper report.
Communication sites (AFP)
TikTok’s bot surreptitiously collects data about users to fine-tune the algorithm that powers its main feed. But it can also collect information about your Wi-Fi network and Sim card, which raises concerns about how that data is used.
But the company is not alone in this, as Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat ranked first in the top eight among the 22 major companies that absorb the largest amount of data – while Facebook was ranked As one of the best companies, it ranked 16th in the Internet 2.0 evaluation.
Tik Tok – iStock
Using its Malcore software, Internet 2.0 gave each app a score based on the amount of personal information collected, with TikTok scoring a total of 63.1, causing the app and its requirements to be described as “excessively intrusive and not necessary to run the app”.
The study’s findings come amid a security row over how information collected by social media companies is used.
TikTok responded by saying, “This report appears to be based on the same misleading analyzes of Internet 2.0 that were conducted last year. Recent reports and studies contradict their conclusions. TikTok is not unique in the amount of information it collects, and in fact it collects Less data than many popular mobile apps.
David Robinson, a former Australian Army intelligence officer and co-founder of Internet 2.0, said the company had “long-term privacy and security concerns” about TikTok.
Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey, said: “TikTok appears to collect information, and you have to wonder why, other than creating a complete profile on someone. The type of data is so broad that it’s hard not to conclude that it is being used for more. “From just marketing and creating kind of profiles of people to marketing. And that, I think, is a concern, especially in the current geopolitical environment where China is establishing itself as a quite assertive state player.”
