TikTok has been experiencing tremendous acceptance in recent months with more and more users downloading the application. Recently, however, it was reported that the popular platform was “monitoring” iOS device users. Specifically, a new feature in iOS 14 that notifies them each time an application gains access to their device’s clipboard revealed TikTok. But that was not the only misconduct.
According to two researchers, Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk, TikTok, in addition to users’ clipboards, was also monitoring over fifty popular applications on iOS, including the news apps New York Times, Fox News and Wall Street Journal as well as games like Fruit Ninja and PUBG Mobile.
As Tommy Mysk specifically stated, these applications have no reason to read clipboards. An application that does not have a text field for input does not need to read clipboard text. He also described them as very dangerous. TikTok quickly issued an official statement apologizing, stating that the “monitoring” was done without malice to prevent unwanted messages. It also promised that it would immediately abolish this particular function.
