Internet 2.0 Study Says TikTok As Most Aggressive In Collecting User Data

TikTok is referred as the biggest data hacker. (photo: doc. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The social media giant is tracking every step of its users, collecting huge amounts of personal data from users who are not aware of it. However, some of them are guilty of gathering more information than others.

According to a study by cybersecurity firm Internet 2.0, TikTok is the biggest data hacker, collecting more than any other social media app or messaging service.

TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. This popular video-sharing app has around one billion active users worldwide. But TikTok has more than double the number of trackers in its source code than the average player in the industry.

As reported by Daily Mail, The TikTok tracking software secretly collects data about users to tune the algorithm that runs the main feed. However, it can also collect information about your Wi-Fi network and SIM card, raising concerns about how this data is being used.

However, the company is not alone, as Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat all rank in the top eight of the 22 largest companies that absorb the most data. While Facebook is rated as one of the best, it ranks 16th in the Internet 2.0 assessment.

Using its Malcore software, Internet 2.0 gave each app a score based on the amount of personal information collected, with TikTok recording a total of 63.1 – higher than VK, the Russian version of Facebook that Apple banned. It found nine trackers and "many permissions and code severity warnings" leading to its score, with Internet 2.0 marking its tracking level as "too imposing and not required for the app to function."

Meanwhile, VK, Russia's second-largest internet company but whose app has been removed from Apple due to security concerns, registered a rating of 62.7, with 13 trackers and 28 "dangerous permissions" found in its source code.

The third most tracked app is Viber Messenger, which has more than one billion users. Found to have 11 trackers.