TIKTOK fans have been warned that the app can apparently monitor what you type.
An expert found that the tech giant is able to do this within the platform’s own web browser on iOS.
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TikTok‘s own browser is launched whenever you tap a link within the app.
Tracking every keystroke this way has led to concerns that sensitive things like credit card information or passwords could be captured.
It all revolves around a piece of code that the firm injects.
“When you open any link on the TikTok iOS app, it’s opened inside their in-app browser,” explained security researcher Felix Krause.
“While you are interacting with the website, TikTok subscribes to all keyboard inputs (including passwords, credit card information, etc.) and every tap on the screen, like which buttons and links you click.”
Other apps like Instagram and Facebook have something similar, except they allow you to open with your usual web browser instead if you like.
TikTok, on the other hand, does not.
But there’s no evidence to suggest such tech is used for bad purposes.
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Krause adds: “Just because an app injects JavaScript into external websites, doesn’t mean the app is doing anything malicious.
“There is no way for us to know the full details on what kind of data each in-app browser collects, or how or if the data is being transferred or used.”
TikTok has confirmed that the code exists but has strongly denied that it’s used to track users.
“Like other platforms, we use an in-app browser to provide an optimal user experience, but the Javascript code in question is used only for debugging, troubleshooting and performance monitoring of that experience — like checking how quickly a page loads or whether it crashes,” a spokesperson for the firm told Forbes.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
