iOS 14’s new paste notification feature shames TikTok into ending clipboard snooping
iOS and iPadOS 14 double down on privacy with a myriad of new features, including notifying you when an app or a widget access the system clipboard. Nest of all, this feature has already forced TikTok to promise to stop accessing the iOS clipboard after it was discovered that the app is grabbing clipboard content every few seconds.
Emojipedia’s Jeremy Burge has discovered that TikTok steals clipboard content on a regular basis. This also occurs even when the app is in the background. According to Burge’s video tweet out on Wednesday, TikTok appear to be grabbing the contents of the system clipboard every few seconds, including when she was typing in Instagram.
An update to TikTok which removes clipboard snooping is now live on the App Store.
TikTok’s disingenuous statement
A spokesperson defended the company’s practice in a statement to The Telegraph:
Following the beta release of iOS 14 on June 22, users saw notifications while using a number of popular apps. For TikTok, this was triggered by a feature designed to identify repetitive, spammy behavior.
We have already submitted an updated version of the app to the App Store removing the anti-spam feature to eliminate any potential confusion. TikTok is committed to protecting users privacy and being transparent about how our app works.
I’m not buying TikTok’s explanation at all.
Okay so TikTok is grabbing the contents of my clipboard every 1-3 keystrokes. iOS 14 is snitching on it with the new paste notification pic.twitter.com/OSXP43t5SZ
— Jeremy Burge (@jeremyburge) June 24, 2020
From TikTok’s response, we still have no idea what they were doing with captured clipboard data from millions of its users. Is that used to gain insights? Does the data leave user devices? If so, has the data been re-sold to third parties for nefarious purposes?
We don’t know answers to any of those questions, not even if this feature has remained active in TikTok for Android, because the company refuses to be transparent even after being caught with its fingers in the cookie jar, which tells you a lot about their company values.
iOS 14 shaming privacy-invading apps
TikTok and other apps like Starbucks, Overstock and AccuWeather were doing this before.
TiKTok’s privacy-invading practices flew under the radar until iOS 14 came along with its clipboard monitoring, which vividly illustrates why we should make no assumptions whatsoever in terms of what apps do with our data.
The Telegraph said back in March that TikTok was doing this for some time, which prompted a reaction from TikTok developer ByteDance who said the company planned to end clipboard snooping “within a few weeks.”
How about you? Is privacy when using digital devices at the top of your priorities? If so, has that been one of the deciding factors for you to stay within the Apple ecosystem?
Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2020/06/26/ios-14-tiktok-clipboard-snooping/
Leave a Reply