Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Personal data
Like Google and Meta (Facebook), the company behind the popular TikTok app analyzes the personal data of people who visit different websites – including people who have never used TikTok’s services or opened an account on the platform. , according to an analysis by the American company Consumer Reports. Anatoliy Gruzd, director of research at The Social Media Lab at Metropolitan University of Toronto, points out that this was not known. “It’s the monetization of the internet. The question is: how many stories of this nature will it take before users change their browsing habits and ask their decision-makers to act in order to protect our right to privacy? he says.
Analysis tool
How does this data collection work? It is the people who program websites who choose to install the analysis tool of the Chinese giant TikTok, explains Bruno Guglielminetti, host of the digital news podcast My notebook. “They do it to get to know their visitors better, to give a better experience. In return, TikTok, Google or Facebook receives this information which allows it to know people better. TikTok can for example know what is popular on the Net, what is not, etc. For people who use TikTok, this data may influence their experience. “It helps the algorithm present information that may be of interest,” he says.
Mobile devices
Analysis has shown that the data transmitted to TikTok can include the IP address (which identifies each device connected to a network), the page the user is on, the links on which they click, as well as what he types on the keyboard or what he is looking for. Anatoliy Gruzd notes that the majority of internet traffic today comes from mobile devices, which transmit even more user data than desktop computers. “Data about your location is transmitted, whether you have blocked it or not. Also, an app can know what other app you’re using, and when you’re using it,” he says.
Strengthen privacy
One way to strengthen privacy would be to better regulate the collection of information on the Internet by the giants of the Web, says Mr. Guglielminetti. “If the Googles and Facebooks of this world allow us to see the data they have about us, it’s not because they’re nice, it’s because the Europeans have forced them to do so since 2018 But it is certain that we do not yet have laws with big teeth to protect Canadians or Quebecers. The laws sometimes give mixed results, notes Anatoliy Gruzd. “Since new laws have been passed in the European Union, many sites have to ask users if they want to accept cookies [témoins], small files that contain information about our navigation. It’s quite bulky as practice. Yes, legislation is important, but it must be useful and meaningful. »
vpn
In his everyday life, Bruno Guglielminetti says he doesn’t use any particular tools to navigate. “It’s that I want to have the experience that the average user has, especially on TikTok. But for a professional project, I can use a VPN tool that hides where I am. For the site I’m visiting, I might as well come from Afghanistan, the United States or Belarus,” he says. Recently, Google – whose business model is largely based on targeted advertising – announced that its newest phone, the Pixel 7, would be equipped with VPN software by default, which would enhance the protection of user privacy.
70% of profits
TikTok was accused in a recent BBC investigation of distributing, through contractors, mobile phones to Syrian refugee families for them to use the platform to solicit donations from the public. By conducting the experiment itself, the BBC realized that 70% of the sum of donations was monopolized by the platform, and that only 30% was paid to users in need. In a statement, the company said such content was not allowed on its platform and that it would take action against “begging exploitation”.
Learn more
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- 26%
- Proportion of Canadian adults with a TikTok account. That’s significantly less than Facebook (80%) or Instagram (51%), but the platform has seen the fastest growth of any social media platform since 2020.
source: The Social Media Lab