Mozilla has requested ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, to be more open about their privacy policies and to disclose on the Google Play Store that the well-known video application does share user data with outside businesses.
TikTok’s Play Store page states under the heading “Data security” that it “does not share data with third parties,” which prompts Mozilla to label this “app” as “infringing” in terms of its privacy policies’ transparency.
Yes, as stated in its privacy policy, TikTok does exchange data with third parties. In particular, it says they share the information “with third-party service providers who help us deliver the Platform to you, such as cloud storage service providers,” as well as “with business partners, with other companies in the same group as TikTok, content moderation services, measurement service providers, advertisers, and analytics service providers.”
On their official blog, Mozilla notes that “profiting on user data as a business model is bad enough, but trying to hide it is simply unacceptable.”
The application has started a petition to “stop deceiving the public” in light of this and the fact that the European and American authorities are looking into its data use methods.