TikTok is a popular short-form video app with over 1 billion monthly active users globally. However, TikTok has faced growing criticism and scrutiny over its data privacy practices. Given its Chinese ownership and the amount of user data it collects, there are concerns that TikTok may share data with the Chinese government or third parties without user consent. Recent investigations have highlighted the vast amount of data that TikTok collects on its users, including browsing history, location data, device identifiers and more, often without transparency. These revelations have led regulators, policymakers and users to question how secure and private TikTok user data really is. As TikTok expands its user base, understanding what information it can access and how it handles data requests is an important issue.
Account Information
TikTok collects a variety of personal information for users’ accounts, including username, password, email, phone number, and profile bio. Users are required to provide a phone number and email when registering for an account. The username, password, and profile bio are also created during account registration.
According to TikTok’s privacy policy, they may collect username, password, email, phone number, and any other information provided during account creation like profile bio and profile picture. This information allows them to set up and maintain user accounts.
User Content
All videos, messages, and comments uploaded to TikTok by a user are stored in TikTok’s databases in China. This includes the actual video and audio files, as well as any text comments or messages associated with them. TikTok keeps a full record of everything a user has posted on the platform (Reddit, 2023).
When a user uploads a video or sends a message, that content is immediately stored on servers in China before being distributed to other users. Even if the content is later deleted, TikTok retains archived copies according to their privacy policy. This allows them to comply with legal data requests. It also enables TikTok’s recommendation algorithm to continue factoring deleted content into its suggestions (Telegraph, 2023).
Metadata
When a user requests their TikTok data, the metadata associated with their account and content is included. This consists of various details about the user’s posts, interactions, and account activity. According to TikTok’s Data Request FAQs, the metadata provided can contain:
Timestamps – The date and time a video was posted is included. TikTok provides this in a machine-readable format. Tools like Bellingcat’s TikTok Timestamp Extractor can help analyze timestamps across multiple videos.
Geotags – The location a video was posted from is included if the user had location services enabled. This provides the latitude and longitude coordinates.
Hashtags – Any hashtags the user included in their captions are provided in the metadata.
Captions – The text captions entered by the user for each video are included.
This metadata allows researchers to analyze posting patterns and gain insights into a user’s content and activity over time. However, it does not include data on views, likes, comments, or other user interactions.
Contacts and Connections
TikTok utilizes an “interest graph” model rather than the traditional “social graph” used by other social media platforms. This means recommendations are based on users’ personalized interests rather than their social connections.1 As a result, TikTok data requests contain limited information about a user’s contacts and connections compared to platforms like Facebook or Instagram.
The Contacts and Connections section of a TikTok user data request includes:
- Friends/Followers – A list of other users who follow the account and the account follows back.
- Following – A list of accounts that the user follows.
- Contacts Imported – Any contacts from the user’s phone address book that were uploaded to find friends on TikTok.
Unlike Facebook which has robust friend/connection data, TikTok’s interest graph model results in more limited social data in user requests. The focus is on serving relevant content rather than social connections.
Device and Usage Information
According to CNN TikTok can collect IP addresses and unique device identifiers like the IDFA on iPhones and GAID on Android devices. These allow TikTok to identify and track specific devices. TikTok also collects browsing data if the app is open while the user visits other sites. The app can record the URLs of pages visited. This allows TikTok to gather information about users’ online behaviors and interests outside of the app itself.
Insights Data
TikTok provides creators with access to analytics and insights data on their content. This includes metrics like views, likes, comments, shares, followers and more. When downloading your TikTok data, the Insights Data section will contain detailed analytics on your posts.
Specifically, TikTok will provide analytics on likes, shares and views for each of your videos. This allows you to see which content is resonating best with your audience. You can view the total number of likes, shares and views, as well as graphs showing how they accumulate over time.
TikTok will also provide demographic data on your audience including gender, age, geographic location and device used. This allows you to better understand who your followers are and what content performs best with different demographic groups.
While TikTok keeps some analytics private, downloading your data gives creators valuable insights to improve content and reach new audiences. The Insights Data section provides a comprehensive look at how your videos are received. This data can help shape content creation and marketing strategy.
Ads Interaction
One of the most valuable pieces of data TikTok provides in a data request is information about a user’s interaction with ads on the platform. This includes data on which ads the user has viewed, clicked on, or purchased products from after viewing.
The specific ad interaction data TikTok provides includes:
- Number of ad impressions – How many times an ad was shown to the user.
- Click-through rate – The percentage of ad impressions that resulted in a click.
- Number of ad clicks – How many times the user clicked on an ad.
- Conversions – If a user took an action like signing up for a service after clicking an ad.
- Purchases – Any purchases made on advertiser websites after the user clicked on an ad.
Analyzing this ad interaction data can provide valuable insights into what types of ads resonate with a user and lead to conversions or purchases. Advertisers can use these insights to optimize their ad targeting and creative. Understanding what ads a user engages with also gives a sense of their interests and intent when using TikTok.
Financial Information
TikTok collects and stores certain financial information from creators, especially those who are part of the TikTok Creator Fund program. According to a Forbes report, TikTok stores sensitive financial data like bank account and routing numbers, income earned from the Creator Fund, and even some payment and tax information on servers in China. This data would be included in a TikTok user data request.
TikTok creators who monetize their content through the TikTok Creator Fund allow the platform to collect and store details on their earnings. This includes how much money they’ve made from the fund, their payment history, and tax information like Social Security numbers and tax IDs, which may be accessed by employees in China according to Forbes. TikTok also collects banking details like account and routing numbers from creators in order to pay them.
In addition to Creator Fund data, a TikTok user’s data request would include any payment information stored for purchasing coins or making other transactions on TikTok. This could include credit card details, billing addresses, and purchase history.
Conclusion
To summarize, data requests to TikTok can include quite a broad range of information. From basic account details like username and profile photo, to more sensitive information like contacts, device data, insights, and financial information from purchasing coins or live gifts. It’s important for TikTok users to understand the types of data the platform collects in order to make informed choices around privacy and sharing preferences. Data privacy is an ongoing issue as technology evolves, and users should stay updated on platform policies. While TikTok can provide valuable connectivity and entertainment, it’s wise to be mindful of what information is being shared publicly and with the platform itself.
