TikTok has become one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 1 billion monthly active users. However, concerns have been raised over TikTok’s access to users’ contact lists without their knowledge or consent. This article will examine how TikTok is able to access your contacts, even if you haven’t given the app permission. We’ll look at the various ways TikTok can obtain your contacts through permissions, uploading contact lists, phone number matching, linking with Facebook, facial recognition, and data sharing with its parent company ByteDance. Understanding how TikTok accesses your personal data is important for making informed decisions about privacy and security when using the platform.
Permission to Access Contacts
During the signup process, TikTok asks new users for permission to access their phone contacts. This allows TikTok to compare the phone numbers in a user’s contacts list to numbers associated with existing TikTok accounts.
If a user grants this permission, TikTok gains the ability to link contacts on their device to TikTok profiles. This enables features like suggesting friends to follow and notifying users when their contacts join TikTok. However, it also means TikTok obtains users’ personal contact data without their consent.
Users can avoid providing their contacts by denying access during signup. However, this may limit social features on TikTok. Overall, granting contact access implies trusting TikTok with your contacts’ information. Users should carefully consider privacy risks before allowing this.
Upload Contact List
TikTok gives users the option to directly upload their phone contact list to find friends who also use the app. This can be done by going to your profile, tapping “Add Friends”, and then selecting “Upload Contacts” [1]. TikTok will then match the contacts in your uploaded list to other TikTok users.
While this allows you to easily find your friends, uploading your full contact list also presents privacy risks. TikTok now has access to the personal information of all your contacts, not just TikTok users. Critics argue TikTok should not need your full contact list just to find your friends on the platform [2]. There are concerns about what TikTok may do with the contact data of non-users.
Phone Number Matching
Even without directly accessing a user’s contacts, TikTok is able to match phone numbers by using information users provide voluntarily. For example, if User A opts to link their phone number to their TikTok account for account security purposes, TikTok now has that phone number on file.
Separately, if User B gives TikTok permission to access their phone contacts during signup, TikTok will have User B’s local address book with numbers. If User A’s number happens to be in User B’s address book, TikTok can then match those two users behind the scenes by matching the phone numbers, even though User A never directly gave TikTok access to their contacts.
This phone number matching allows TikTok to make friend recommendations like “User A is in your contacts.” While TikTok may not have directly accessed User A’s address book, by combining data points from different users who have given access, they can make linkages without directly accessing all user contacts. This highlights the extensive reach of TikTok’s data linking capabilities.
TikTok Accesses Facebook Friends List for Linked Accounts
If a user links their Facebook account to their TikTok account, TikTok is able to access the Facebook friends list and make friend suggestions based on it. According to TikTok’s support page, “We will continue to suggest Facebook friends to you even if you turn off Sync Contacts” (https://support.tiktok.com/en/account-and-privacy/account-privacy-settings/suggested-accounts).
When accounts are linked, TikTok has permission to retrieve the full friends list from Facebook. It can then match this against TikTok user profiles to find overlaps and make friend recommendations. Even if Sync Contacts is disabled, TikTok still has access to the Facebook friends list data for anyone who has connected their accounts.
According to Adweek, linking Facebook simply allows TikTok to “access your list of friends from Facebook and easily allow you to find and follow them on TikTok” (https://www.adweek.com/media/tiktok-how-to-sync-your-facebook-friends-with-the-app/). So if you want to prevent TikTok from accessing your Facebook friends, avoid linking the accounts.
Suggested Contacts
One way TikTok suggests contacts is through its “Suggested” feature, which recommends accounts you may want to follow. This is based on TikTok’s algorithm analyzing your contacts, activity, and other factors to find accounts associated with people you may know.
For example, if someone in your phone’s contact list has a TikTok account, TikTok may show their account as a suggestion, even if you haven’t connected with them on TikTok. The app can match phone numbers in your contacts to TikTok accounts.
TikTok also looks at your social connections on Facebook and other platforms that have friend/follower graphs. If you are connected to someone on another social media platform, and that person also uses TikTok, their account may show up as a suggestion.
The algorithm also considers location data, shared networks like school or workplace WiFi, and proximity to detect if TikTok users are physically close to you frequently. People who are often in your vicinity may be suggested as contacts even if you don’t know them.
In essence, TikTok leverages data points like contacts, friend networks, location, and connection signals to find accounts to suggest that you may have some real-life association with.
Facial Recognition
TikTok uses facial recognition technology in some parts of its app, such as applying filters and effects to a user’s face during videos. However, TikTok claims it does not use facial recognition data to uniquely identify users or match users to contacts (1).
In September 2022, TikTok stated “We do not use any sort of facial, voice or audio, or biometric data for identification purposes” (2). They clarified that while some definitions of biometrics include facial features, TikTok does not actively collect or analyze this data to identify who a user is.
However, some researchers have found evidence that TikTok’s facial recognition goes beyond just filters and effects. A 2020 report suggested TikTok was analyzing users’ facial expressions while watching videos to detect their emotional reactions in real-time (3). This type of facial scanning could potentially be used for targeted advertising or content recommendations, although TikTok has denied using facial data in this way.
In summary, while TikTok leverages facial recognition technology for certain app features, they maintain that they do not use it to identify users or link contacts. But some experts argue their facial scanning capabilities may go beyond what TikTok claims.
Sources:
(1) https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-truths-a-new-series-on-our-privacy-and-data-security-practices
(2) https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/14/tiktok-claims-its-not-collecting-u-s-users-biometric-data-despite-what-privacy-policy-says/
(3) https://medium.com/illumination/tiktok-uses-facial-and-audio-recognition-technology-to-detect-users-emotions-e26baf4a13a3
Data Sharing with Parent Company
TikTok is owned by the Chinese technology company ByteDance. While TikTok operates separately in the United States, there is concern that user data could be accessed by ByteDance and potentially shared with the Chinese government (cite The Guardian). Under China’s cybersecurity laws, companies like ByteDance can be compelled to provide user data to the government upon request. While there is no direct evidence yet that TikTok shares contact data with ByteDance, the potential exists given the ownership structure.
TikTok claims that U.S. user data is stored on servers in the U.S. and Singapore, not China. However, parent company ByteDance could theoretically still access this data. TikTok states they have taken steps to limit employee access to user data, but concerns remain about what could happen under pressure from the Chinese government (cite Asia Fact Check).
Overall, while direct data sharing has not been proven, the links between TikTok and ByteDance raise questions about how contact data could potentially be obtained by Chinese authorities. TikTok asserts it would not comply with any improper requests, but the risk remains due to China’s regulatory environment.
Protecting Contact Privacy
If you are concerned about TikTok accessing your contacts, there are steps you can take to limit its access:
First, you can revoke TikTok’s permissions to access your contacts. In your phone’s settings, find TikTok and disable contacts permissions. This will prevent TikTok from accessing your contacts list directly.
You can also avoid linking your TikTok account with your contacts on other platforms like Facebook. Don’t allow TikTok to access your Facebook friends list. And if you see contacts suggested on TikTok that you want to remove, you can tap the “X” icon to delete them.
In your TikTok account privacy settings, you can disable the “suggest your account to others” feature. This prevents TikTok from suggesting your account to contacts who haven’t connected with you.
Being selective about which social media platforms you allow to access your contacts is a good way to limit how much of your data is shared across apps. Revoke permissions and unlink accounts whenever possible to keep your contacts private.
Conclusion
In summary, TikTok has multiple ways of accessing user contact information. This includes directly uploading your contacts, matching phone numbers against your friend list, linking with Facebook to find mutual connections, using facial recognition, and sharing data with its parent company ByteDance.
While some contact access may help personalize the TikTok experience, it’s important to understand how the app obtains your personal data. Being aware of what is shared can help users better protect their privacy and make informed decisions about what they choose to disclose.
At the end of the day, it comes down to trusting TikTok’s security measures and being comfortable with how the company leverages your contacts behind the scenes. Checking your account’s privacy settings and minimizing unnecessary contact access can help users control how this data is used.
