TikTok’s Privacy Policy

Ever since its launch in 2017, the short-form video social media app, TikTok has experienced a rapid and unique rise to the massive popularity it has earned.

With 1.2 billion monthly active users, TikTok generated $4.6 billion, a 142% increase year-on-year in 2021.

It has not only changed the way we take in and put out our media, but has also changed the overall structure of social media platforms everywhere. Take Instagram’s shift and subsequent push to video content with their own short form video feature, Reels for instance. YouTube also created its own short form feature formatted vertically for mobile use.

TikTok has changed the game in content creation and consumption in the social media landscape, however, it has also gotten attention for its questionable data Privacy Policy and content regulations and user safety.

While TikTok has taken steps to better regulate and moderate its platform, its Privacy Policy remains a constant and growing concern for users and experts alike. 

What does TikTok Collect?

When you sign up for a TikTok account, it first collects all the standard social media personal information. This includes your name, age, phone number, and email. Location and IP addresses are also tracked.

TikTok also analyzes and tracks keystroke patterns, biomedical data like our faces and voices. According to the company, the purpose of tracking keystroke patterns is for fraud detection and the reason for tracking biomedical data such as faces, is for filter purposes.

TikTok also has the capability to collect images, text, and video from your clipboard when you copy and paste to or from the app.

One of the most discussed aspect of TikTok is its advanced algorithm. The app is tuned into the videos users interact with and spend their time watching. According to The Wire,

“TikTok uses machine learning based techniques to understand what you view and why. The goal is to keep you on the platform for as long as possible and collect more data about what you’ve watched.” 

What does TikTok do with your information?

It states it uses our data to “improve, support and administer the Platform, to allow you to use its functionalities, and to fulfill and enforce our Terms of Service. We may also use your information to, among other things, show you suggestions, promote the Platform, and customize your ad experience.”

The app also states that it shares user information with its service providers and business partners “to help us perform business operations and for business purposes.”

These service providers and business partners range from:

• Payment processors

• Customer and technical support providers

• Researchers

• Cloud providers

• Advertisers and marketers

It also can provide third-party apps users connect to their accounts with access with your data from TikTok. Users have the ability to consent to this.

How long does TikTok keep user data?

It is unclear how long TikTok will keep data after users delete their accounts. The Privacy Policy says, “We retain information for as long as necessary to provide the platform and for the other purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.”

TikTok also keeps former users’ data for contractual and legal obligations as well as “legitimate business reasons.”