TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 1 billion monthly active users. With its fun videos, challenges, trends, and discover page, users can easily spend hours scrolling and watching TikToks. However, with the app’s rising popularity, many users have questions about how private their activity on TikTok really is.
One common question is – are TikTok searches private? The short answer is no. When you search for content on TikTok, that information is not private. TikTok collects data on what users search for and can use that data for various purposes like targeted advertising, content recommendations, and more.
What TikTok Knows About Your Searches
Whenever you search for a term, hashtag, or account on TikTok, that query gets logged to their servers. This means TikTok has a record of every search you have ever done while logged into your account. They store this search history data indefinitely unless you specifically request for it to be deleted.
In addition to storing your raw search terms, TikTok also uses your searches for analytics and personalization of your feed. For example, if you search for #cats multiple times, TikTok may show you more cat videos on your For You page even if you don’t directly follow any cat-related accounts. This helps serve you content that matches your interests.
Who Can See Your TikTok Search History
Your personal TikTok search history is not visible to other users on the platform. Other people cannot see what terms or accounts you have searched for. However, TikTok themselves have access to this data associated with your account.
TikTok states in their Privacy Policy that they share information with third parties for business purposes. This means anonymous data based on your searches could be used for analytics, research, advertising, and more. However, they claim not to share any personally identifiable search history data with third parties.
Protecting Your Search Privacy on TikTok
If you are concerned about TikTok collecting data on your searches, there are a few things you can do:
- Use a secondary “burner” account just for more private searches instead of your main account.
- Regularly clear your search history within the TikTok app.
- Avoid logging in to your account when searching more sensitive topics.
- Limit search terms to generic words rather than specific people, places, etc.
However, even if signed out, TikTok can still track searches to your device ID. The only way to fully hide searches is to avoid the TikTok app altogether.
Deleting Your TikTok Search History
If you want to manually clear your TikTok search history, follow these steps:
- Open your TikTok app and tap on your profile icon in the bottom right.
- Tap on the three-line menu button in the upper right corner.
- Choose “Settings and privacy” from the menu.
- Select “Content and activity”
- Tap on “Clear search history” and confirm clearing your history.
This will wipe your search record clean. However, any future searches will begin logging again. There is no setting to fully disable search history storage.
Does Deleting Searches Increase Privacy?
Clearing your search history might provide a minor privacy benefit, but it does not prevent TikTok from continuing to store your future searches. The data they have already collected on your interests is also retained for use in personalized recommendations.
In general, expect anything you search for or view on TikTok to influence the content you see in your feed. The app is highly personalized, so searches impact the algorithm’s understanding of your preferences.
Is TikTok Breaking Privacy Laws?
TikTok’s data collection practices around searches are likely within legal bounds. Their Privacy Policy discloses that they store search information and may share anonymous analytics based on it. You agree to these practices when creating an account.
However, TikTok has come under scrutiny for privacy violations before, especially regarding younger users. They paid a $5.7 million fine in 2019 to the FTC over allegations they illegally collected childrens’ data.
While TikTok’s search tracking itself may be legal, there are concerns over how securely this data is stored and whether China-based employees could access it. But so far, no laws specifically prohibit the search tracking.
Using Third-Party Apps to Search Anonymously
If you want to browse and search TikTok without an account, there are some third-party apps that allow anonymous searching such as Libretik and TikTok Lab.
However, most experts don’t recommend these as a privacy solution. Third-party apps have their own questionable data practices in many cases. They also frequently break and can display incomplete results.
In Summary
TikTok searches are not private from TikTok themselves. They store a record of all searches connected to your account profile. These are used by their recommendation algorithm to personalize your For You feed.
You can manually clear your search history, but this does not stop ongoing collection. Avoid searching sensitive topics while logged into your account. Be aware that anything you search for or view can shape your TikTok recommendations.
