TikTok, is a media application for iOS and Android owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, which allows you to create and share short videos. The app allows users to create short music videos of 3–15 seconds and long videos of 30–60 seconds.
Now, it has been Anonymous who has lit the fuse by charging against the social network TikTok, ensuring that it contains "malware operated by the Chinese Government that executes a massive espionage operation", that is, that it is an application created as spyware by the Chinese government.
Through their profile @YourAnonCentral, the hacktivists ask to “delete Tik Tok now. If you know someone who is using it, explain to them that it is essentially malware operated by the Chinese government running a mass espionage”.
In the tweet, they incorporate a screenshot of a Reddit post that claimed to have reverse engineered the app.
According to this Reddit post, TikTok collects various user, hardware, and software data: CPU type, course number, hardware ID, screen dimensions, DPI, memory usage, disk space, IP, MAC router , WiFi hotspot, data about other apps, whether the device is rooted/jailbroken, user location, etc.
In the same thread of tweets, they also claim that “TikTok is collecting data on children and adolescents to monitor its market reach and political development.”
However, it is not the first time that TikTok has been in the spotlight, iOS 14 revealed that the app has access to what the user has copied to the clipboard and the India banned its use for violating privacy a few weeks ago.
But why is TikTok so successful?
TikTok know what you want, and gives it to you quickly and "free". There is a huge market of users looking for micro-entertainment and TikTok gives them what it knows they want to see. On TikTok there is a section where the videos that have set a trend of the day are highlighted. This section is called “For you” and consists of content that is based on the user's tastes.
TikTok turns you into influencer quickly and “free”. TikTok's algorithm allows practically anyone to make one of their videos viral. Who doesn't like to have their minute of fame? It is the platform that allows you to convert regular users into influencers. And that, today, is highly valued (I reserve my opinion on this).
FaceApp is a mobile application for iOS and Android developed by the Russian company Wireless Lab that uses artificial intelligence to automatically generate highly realistic facial transformations in photographs. The app can transform a face to make it smile, look younger, look older, or change gender.
However, the Russian-origin app is quite ambiguous with its privacy policy. The millions of photos that have been uploaded to FaceApp will not be lost in limbo. On the contrary, this data is very valuable and as reflected in the terms of the application, it may be shared with third parties. Unfortunately, it is a very common practice these days and despite not realizing it many times, With every photo we upload of these viral ones, we are little by little giving up our privacy.
Free apps usually live off ads. But, in the case of FaceApp, one of its great sources of income is the large amount of data about users that they store and sell. Very juicy information for all types of companies.
Depending on their terms and conditions of use, some data collected by FaceApp They are: operating system, IP, browser, screen resolution, model and manufacturer, device ID push tokens, Google advertising ID, Apple advertising ID, data about the user's online activity, information about the use of the app , information about websites visited, navigation routes, data on screen navigation, time and duration of access, access to information from third parties such as clients or online advertising networks.
All of this information may be collected through the use of cookies, web browser storage, web beacons and other technologies. In addition, FaceApp reserves the right to access this information through apps developed by third parties (SDK). These SDKs in turn allow third parties to access user data.
But why is FaceApp so successful?
FaceApp has been made viral forks "free”. The result of the transformation that the App makes is so incredible and realistic that a domino effect has been created that has sparked the interest of anyone worldwide, including actors, athletes, models, musicians, influencers, etc. We are talking about how FaceApp has gotten many celebrities and influencers to use this product and publish their results without having to pay them anything for the promotion. Which, without a doubt, has been a milestone in terms of viralization.
Author: María José Peña. Computer engineer. IT Project Director and passionate about Cybersecurity.
