Consumer Reports: China’s TikTok Tracks Users Even if They Don’t Use the App

Consumer Reports recently found that the Chinese-owned video app TikTok uses the same techniques as Google and Facebook to track users across the web — even if they don’t use the TikTok app.

A recent study from Consumer Reports claims that while many users may be aware that websites collect information on users, which Google and Facebook have used to dominate the advertising business, the Chinese-owned app TikTok uses many of the same techniques to track users across the web – even when they don’t use the app.

Companies such as TikTok embed trackers called “pixels” in other websites which record a user’s actions. Then TikTok uses this information to target ads to potential customers and measure the success rate of their ads.

Consumer Reports asked security firm Disconnect to scan 20,000 websites for TikTok pixels. Some of the biggest sites that featured the pixel had domains ending “.org,” “.edu,” and “.gov,” many of which dealt with sensitive information.

Consumer Reports writes:

If you go to the United Methodist Church’s main website, TikTok hears about it. Interested in joining Weight Watchers? TikTok finds that out, too. The Arizona Department of Economic Security tells TikTok when you view pages concerned with domestic violence or food assistance. Even Planned Parenthood uses the trackers, automatically notifying TikTok about every person who goes to its website, though it doesn’t share information from the pages where you can book an appointment. (None of those groups responded to requests for comment.)

Patrick Jackson, the chief technology officer at Disconnect, commented: “I was genuinely surprised that TikTok’s trackers are already this widespread. I think people are conditioned to think, ‘Facebook is everywhere, and whatever, they’re going to get my data.’ I don’t think people connect that with TikTok yet.”

Melanie Bosselait, a TikTok spokesperson, commented on how the company uses the data, stating: “Like other platforms, the data we receive from advertisers is used to improve the effectiveness of our advertising services.” The data “is not used to group individuals into particular interest categories for other advertisers to target.”

Read more at Consumer Reports here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan