On TikTok, there are a few ways to check who someone is following, but the options are more limited compared to other social media platforms. TikTok does not have a public searchable database of followers and following for accounts like Instagram or Twitter do. However, there are still some methods within the TikTok app and using third-party websites that allow you to see at least a portion of who someone follows.
In general, the following list on TikTok is private by default, but you can see a limited preview of accounts someone follows. There are also some workarounds to potentially view more complete lists, especially your own full following list. But for other people’s accounts, you can only see a sample of follows.
This overview covers the current ways to check follows on TikTok and the limits in place. Understanding the available options can help you get a sense of who someone engages with on TikTok.
Viewing Your Own Following List
The easiest way to see who you are following on TikTok is to view your own following list. This allows you to see a list of all the accounts you currently follow.
To view your own following list on TikTok:
- Open the TikTok app and go to your profile page.
- At the top of your profile, tap on “Following” next to the number of accounts you follow.
- This will open your Following feed, which contains posts from all the accounts you follow.
- At the top of the feed, tap on “Following” again. This will open your full following list.
Your following list shows small profile pictures of every account you currently follow on TikTok. You can scroll through the list to view all the accounts.
This provides a simple way to get a complete look at who you follow on TikTok. It’s public information to you, but private to anyone else looking at your profile. You can also tap to view any user’s profile from your following list.
Viewing Someone Else’s Following List
One limitation of TikTok is that you can’t directly view another user’s complete following list. TikTok intentionally limits the ability to see who someone else is following for privacy reasons. When you go to another user’s profile, you’ll only see a selected portion of the accounts they follow.
TikTok does not provide a feature to see a user’s full following list. The following section on a profile only displays a limited number of accounts the user follows. This makes it impossible to get the full list just by looking at their profile.
Some users have speculated that the accounts shown are based on your own follows or likes (source). However, there is no definitive way to see the full list directly on TikTok currently.
While you can’t see the full following list on TikTok itself, some third-party websites claim to show this data, which will be covered later in this article.
Seeing Who Someone is Following on Their Profile
On a user’s profile you can see a sample of accounts they follow. TikTok will display a carousel of accounts a user follows directly on their profile page. This allows you to get a glimpse of the types of accounts someone engages with on TikTok without being able to see their full following list.
To see the accounts someone follows on their profile:
- Go to the profile of the person you want to check.
- Scroll down below their bio.
- You’ll see a carousel titled “Follows” with profile pictures of accounts they follow.
This carousel only shows a small portion of accounts out of someone’s full following list. But it can give you a sense of the content and creators someone engages with on TikTok.
Keep in mind that if someone has a private account, you won’t be able to see who they follow at all on their profile.
Looking at Likes
One way to get an idea of who someone follows on TikTok is by looking at the posts they have liked. When you like a video on TikTok, it shows up on your profile under the “Liked” tab. By going through the videos a user has liked, you can see the original posters they follow. However, this method only reveals a portion of a user’s follows, since you can only see the likes on their public profile. Private likes or likes on private videos will not show up. Additionally, users may like videos from people they don’t actually follow. So while liking a video doesn’t necessarily mean someone follows the poster, it does give some indication of the accounts they interact with. According to TikTok, you can find your own liked videos by tapping the “Profile” tab, selecting “Liked videos,” and scrolling through to see who posted them [1]. Keep in mind that going through someone else’s likes is limited to what they make public. Their full following list is not available to regular users.
Using Third-Party Websites
Some external sites claim to show user following lists. For example, https://ampedsaver.com/see-someones-following-list-on-tiktok/ says it can display the full list of accounts someone follows on TikTok. However, these third-party sites may not always work reliably or show complete information.
TikTok does not provide an official API for third-party services to access private follow data. So these external sites likely rely on web scraping or unofficial methods. Their results could be inaccurate or out-of-date.
In general, it’s best to be cautious of any third-party site claiming to reveal private TikTok data. Treat their information as unverified unless you can confirm it through other means.
Limits of Current Methods
There are some drawbacks and limitations to the current methods for checking who someone follows on TikTok. Viewing your own following list in the app only shows a limited number of people you follow. You can’t see your full following list all in one place. Similarly, viewing someone else’s profile only shows a small sample of who they follow. There is no way to see a user’s complete following list directly within TikTok.
Third party websites like SocialTracker and Social Blade can provide more complete following lists. However, the data on these sites may not update instantly, so they could show outdated information. These tools likely rely on unofficial APIs, so TikTok could cut off their access at any time.
The biggest limitation is that TikTok does not make full following lists public for most users. Only verified accounts let you see all of the accounts they follow. For regular users, you can only see a sample of who someone follows on their profile or through third-party tools.
TikTok intentionally limits following list visibility to prevent scraping and harassment (source). So there’s no straightforward way to comprehensively view who someone follows on TikTok.
Why Full Lists Aren’t Public
TikTok limits the visibility of full following lists in order to protect user privacy. According to TikTok’s privacy policy, they believe users should have control over their privacy. Displaying full public following lists could allow people to data mine profiles and collect information without consent.
TikTok states that their platform is committed to “transparency and accountability” when it comes to privacy practices. However, they balance this with giving users control over their information. TikTok seems to have determined that showing abbreviated following lists strikes the right balance for now.
Full following lists were previously available on TikTok, but caused issues like targeted harassment and unwanted contact. By only displaying a portion of follows, TikTok aims to limit these privacy risks. At the same time, abbreviated lists still give users some visibility into who someone follows.
Overall, TikTok restricts full following lists as a way to empower users and prioritize privacy. They’ve decided this approach does the most good for the most people, even if some users would prefer public follows.
Checking Follows of Private Accounts
Private accounts are more restricted when it comes to seeing who they follow. Since their account is set to private, their following list is not publicly visible to anyone.
There are a few potential options to try viewing a private account’s follows:
- If you follow them, you can see who they follow in the Following section of their profile. However, this only shows a limited number of accounts.
- Using third-party websites like TikTok Mod that claim to view private accounts. However, TikTok does not authorize these services so their reliability is uncertain.
- If you have a mutual friend with the private account, ask them to check the full following list and share it with you. But they may not wish to share private information.
Overall, there is no guaranteed way to see the full following list of a private TikTok account without having access to the account itself. TikTok prioritizes user privacy for private accounts.
Conclusion
In summary, you have a few options for viewing someone’s list of accounts they follow on TikTok, but none provide the full list. On a user’s profile, you can see a sample of who they follow. You can also look at the accounts a user likes to get an idea of their interests and who they interact with. However, due to TikTok’s privacy settings, you cannot access a complete list of accounts a user follows, unless they make the list public or you gain access to their private account. The methods available provide only a partial view of who someone follows on TikTok.
