Beware! TikTok Monitors Everything You Type in the Browser

Are you a TikTok user? If yes then beware, TikTok is spying on you. According to the latest research, the in-app browser in TikTok injects JavaScript into external websites that let the app monitor all input, including passwords and credit card numbers. Back in 2020, TikTok found accessing users’ clipboards. Now, TikTok has been found snooping on its users once again.

Beware! TikTok is Monitoring everything You Type in the Browser

According to security researcher Felix Krause, whenever users open a link in TikTok, the app is then allowed to monitor everything a user does on that external website. This includes anything typed, as well as taps on buttons and links.

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The research revealed that “This was an active choice the company made. This is a non-trivial engineering task. This does not happen by mistake or randomly.”

On the other hand, a TikTok spokesperson replied that the code isn’t malicious at all. The company is using this code for “debugging, troubleshooting, and performance monitoring.”

The company also claimed that JavaScript is part of a third-party software development kit. However, it does not reveal the name of who made it.

If you are more conscious about your data, the researcher suggested opening the links shared in TikTok with Safari.

Just recently, TikTok announced that it will provide select researchers with more transparency about its platform and moderation system. For that reason, TikTok is developing a research API to improve access to public and anonymized data about content and activity on its app. TikTok says researchers currently don’t have an easy way to assess content or conduct tests on its platform. However, soon they will be able to get access to public data.

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