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A New Report Confirms TikTok Tracks You Without Having The App Installed
TikTok is either getting a bad press, or others are out to make them bad. According to Consumer Reports (CR), TikTok gathers data on users without having the app installed on their devices.
As a practice, TikTok is not alone to gather information from users and companies are better equipped to target their ads. This approach has long been in existence and older tech companies besides TikTok have already utilized it before. You know them, right? Facebook and Google have by far the largest reach in the marketplace within the United States.
Now, the CR report sheds some light on just how TikTok is able to gather data from users if they do not have the app installed. TikTok is using a “pixel”, which is some sort of a tracker. In other words, by gathering user data they pass this information onto companies that can in turn target their ads with more precision. It is not a new advertising or marketing phenomenon this practice online. I have always said a lack of regulation on large tech companies is a huge problem because of their lobbying influence on legislators today.
As reported by Malwarebytes, the tracking is a lot more sophisticated than just targeting ads.
“Among other data, TikTok collects the IP address; a unique number; the page a user is…
