A group of children’s privacy advocates alleged in a recent FTC complaint that TikTok violated an agreement to protect children’s private data. The popular video-sharing app TikTok has landed in hot water again over privacy issues. On Thursday, a group of privacy advocates filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging the platform failed to adequately protect children’s privacy.
The popular video-sharing app TikTok has flouted an agreement it made with the Federal Trade Commission to protect the privacy of children on the service, a coalition of 20 children’s and consumer groups said https://t.co/50fJCr0r62
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 14, 2020
There are simply too many security and privacy vulnerabilities in apps like TikTok, making it an attractive target for hackers and scammers. This is especially true of bad guys that prey on young users who are not familiar with how they can best protect themselves online.
U.S. government agencies, including the United States Army and the Transportation Safety Authority have both banned the app from use by their employees. This is due to security and privacy concerns about the Chinese-owned app.
Until such concerns have been addressed, I strongly recommend that parents check their offsprings\’ devices on a regular basis, deleting the TikTok app whenever they find it. I also recommend parents have a discussion with their children, cautioning them about the privacy dangers of apps like TikTok.