Like every other social media platform — Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and on and on — TikTok knows what videos you watch and for how long. TikTok knows what kind of phone you have and your approximate location. In the same way, Google scans every email you send or receive on Gmail. There is simply no way to avoid this; permission for the social media provider to do so is written into the Terms of Service, and despite what you may read on Facebook, you cannot alter the Terms of Service by posting a notice (or by any other means).
Messages between TikTok users are not encrypted. TikTok has full access to that message content, and so does anyone else in transit. Many but not all social platforms have a more secure messaging implementation. Of course, regular email is not encrypted either. Never put anything in an email or a social media message that you don't want to be made public. And for heaven's sake, don't put significant personal information like a Social Security Number or a credit card number into an unencrypted email or message.
If you grant TikTok permissions on your device, it will know your exact location, all the details of your contacts, your age, your phone number, and any payment information that is stored in your phone. That's true for every other social media platform. But here's the critical thing: you have control over whether TikTok can access this information. On an iPhone, all these permissions are off by default. You must enable them, although TikTok will repeatedly ask you to do exactly that. You do not have to say Yes.
In the same way, if you allow it, TikTok will have full access to the microphone and every camera in your phone. If you want to create your own TikTok video, you have no choice but to allow this. If you simply watch other people's videos, TikTok will not access your microphone or camera.
In 2020, Apple detected that the iOS TikTok app was accessing the clipboard on a user's device — even when the clipboard data came from another app. TikTok fixed this. Whether it was intentional or just lazy programming, I can't say.
There is no two-factor authentication in TikTok. Your password may be easily compromised unless it is strong.
I believe many people distrust TikTok specifically because it's Chinese. Well, I have friends in China and they have the same feeling about operating systems and apps from the United States. I don't know what the long-term future of China-U.S. relations are. Some people believe a war over Taiwan is inevitable. I don't believe that's the case, although it certainly could happen. I hope not.
