TikTok still has access to personal data of Indian users even after 2020 ban: Report

How can TikTok still access Indian users’ data?

According to the employee and a Forbes assessment of internal TikTok and ByteDance programmes, anyone at the companies with simple access to their tools may retrieve and analyse granular data about prior TikTok users in India. Another source independently verified that Indians’ data has been available since the country blocked the app, as per the report.

One social mapping application, dubbed “NSA-To-Go” by a TikTok employee, can generate a list of any public or private user’s closest TikTok connections and personally-identifying information about them; it still brings up TikTok profiles of people in India.

The region where someone lives, their TikTok usernames (often their first and last name), and how they share TikTok content with phone contacts and users across other social platforms can all be retrieved by staff by entering a TikToker’s unique identifier, or UID, a string of numbers linked to more specific information about the person.

The same UID can be used across TikTok and ByteDance’s internal systems to learn more about a person, such as how they search. According to the TikTok employee, it is the key to creating a “digital dossier” on any user, including those with private accounts, the report said.

Why did India ban TikTok?

Due to the “emergent nature of the threat,” the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, in 2020. The apps were prohibited under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act because they are “prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state, and public order”.

Likewise, recently, TikTok has been banned in Canada because of privacy and security concerns. According to the Canadian government, the app has been prohibited because it poses unacceptable levels of risk and security.