Closeted But on TikTok? Then You Had Your Tik Taken Out By Tracking Your Gay Content

 

TikTok, which did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment, told the Journal that “safeguarding the privacy and security of people who use TikTok is one of our top priorities.”

A spokesperson for the popular video app was quoted by the Journal as saying that TikTok “doesn’t identify potentially sensitive information such as sexual orientation or race of users based on what they choose to watch,” nor does TikTok “infer such information.” The spokeswoman added that the data collected purely represent users’ interests and “isn’t necessarily a sign of someone’s identity” and that prior to the data’s deletion, TikTok had “protocols” in place to ensure sensitive data was only seen by authorized employees. 

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The Journal’s report adds that TikTok workers in the US, UK, and Australia raised concerns about the data collection practice to higher-level executives at the company in 2020 and 2021, amid fears that some employees might share the data with outside parties or use it to blackmail users. The data collection was also criticized for potentially including a list of vulnerable users who could face harassment and violence for being LGBT or being perceived to be LGBT.

In 2021, TikTok restricted access to the dashboard that contained the data and stopped labeling the tracked content as LGBT. In 2022, the short-form video app deleted the dashboard and moved the data to the company’s newly made US unit, which, the Journal reports, a “smaller number of authorized employees” can access.