Tiktok’s new privacy update confirms staff across the world access your data
TIKTOK told European users that their data can be accessed by employees in China, adding to the privacy concerns.
The video sharing platform is updating its privacy policy to confirm that staff across the world can access user data. This means European user data could be accessed from China, Brazil, Canada, Israel, the US and Singapore.
The ByteDance owned social media platform, used by over a billion people across the world, said under the new privacy update staff are allowed to access this data to ensure that the platform is “consistent, enjoyable and safe”.
TikTok’s head of privacy in Europe Elaine Fox said that this data was shared via a “series of robust security controls and approval methods that are recognised under the GDPR”.
The director of GCHQ Jeremy Fleming told BBC Radio 4’s Today show last month that although he was not concerned about children using the app, he thought people needed to understand that “there is no free good here”.
“Make the most of it, make those videos, use TikTok, but just think before you do,” he explained.
Questions around data have often emerged with TikTok. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recently found that TikTok could have processed personal data of children under the age of 13 without parental permission between May 2018 and July 2020.