What data does TikTok say it collects from users and how does it compare to Instagram and Facebook | Technology

A platform says it has practices similar to those of its competitors, such as Instagram It is Facebookand that US user data resides under the infrastructure of the American company Oracleused since 2022, after questions from former President Donald Trump’s government.

“In line with industry practices, we collect information that people provide to help the app work, operate safely, and improve the user experience,” TikTok says.

According to TikTok’s privacy policy for the US, anyone who creates an account on the social network can share the following information:

• profile informationsuch as name, age, username, password, language, email, telephone number and information disclosed in the profile;
• user generated contentsuch as comments, photos, live broadcasts, audio messages, videos, text, hashtags, as well as metadata, which details when, where and who created content;
• messagesincluding information about when they were sent, received or read;
• information as textphotos and videos that are copied into another application and pasted into TikTok;
• purchase informationincluding payment card data, billing, delivery and purchase history;
• phone number of the user and their contacts (in addition to names and emails), if the owner gives permission for the platform;
• information to verify an accountsuch as identity document or other record that proves age;
• communication preferences and contact information when the user contacts support.

One An investigation by “Forbes” magazine in 2023 showed that data from TikTok’s biggest content creators is stored in China.

However, the company says it does not store user information in the country. According to the platform, the information is stored on servers in the USA, Singapore and Malaysia.

In 2022, after questions from the Trump administration, TikTok began storing user data in the US with the American company Oracle. The company created a subsidiary called US Data Security (USDS) to prevent its sale to a US company.

The social network also states that the content is protected by “strong physical and logical security controls, including closed entry points, firewalls and intrusion detection technologies.”

TikTok states that as of June 2022, all US user data is stored on the Oracle Cloud cloud platform and “all access to this environment is managed exclusively by USDS.”

TikTok also says that the data can only be accessed by a restricted group of employees, who are subject to security controls when they need to view this type of information.

In the United States, Meta, owner of Instagram and Facebook, says that the way it collects and processes data depends on how the person uses its platforms.

“We collect different information if you sell furniture on Marketplace and if you post a video on Instagram,” the company says in its Privacy Center.

These are some of the information that big tech extracts from users:

• content information that the person creates, such as posts, comments, audio, and content created “through our camera feature or camera roll settings”;
• user activitysuch as time and frequency on Instagram and Facebook;
• interactionsuch as messages you receive or send, and hashtags used in posts;
• metadatawhich indicate, for example, the location where a posted photo was taken and the date the content was created;
• content and advertising that you view and interact with;
• the device and operating system that the person uses to access Instagram and Facebook;
• financial transactions carried out within Meta’s social networks and credit card information.

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