The United States government and the European Union are investigating TikTok social network. There are suspicions of lack of transparency in user policies and indiscriminate data collection. In this article we explore which data TikTok saves and how to eliminate an account if you want to.
It’s important to note that all social networks collect user information to some degree. In the terms of use agreement they indicate you which data they use. The problem is that users usually never read this agreement. TikTok does not collect any information different from other social networks. The real problem is between the governments of China, Europe and USA.
Which information doest TikTok collect and how to eliminate your account
Inside the privacy policies section of TikTok you can find all the information that the social network collects. It’s not a funny reading as the legal experts explain in ambiguous and technical ways how to use TikTok. Before you decide to eliminate a TikTok account, we are going to explain simply what does TikTok do with your information.
First of all, all the generated content like photos, videos, directs, comments, text and hashtags are collected by TikTok. It also saves associated metadata like when, where and who has created the content.
TikTok also collects information when you write, send or receive a private message in the platform. It also saves the chats you share with a vendor inside the platform and it includes the message content and metadata of date and participants of the conversation.
Purchase information like numbers of paying cards and paying platforms like PayPal. TikTok also saves the transaction history from and through the platform. It’s a good way to revise your purchasing experiences in case of need.
TikTok also collects and receives information about the user from organizations, enterprises and other people. The different sources of information can also be governmental authorities, professional or beneficial organizations. There’s also information that TikTok reunites from advisors, marketing teams and other partners that share information outside the social network.
Does it sound strange? Wait for it. If you want to eliminate your TikTok account don’t forget to read the punctual data the social network collects every day.
- Location information using SIM or IP address. TikTok also saves data from stores, popular places and points of interest you add to your posts.
- They can collect videos, images and audio from content you generate. It can identify objects, places, faces and bodies.
- TikTok collects all the metadata from your interactions in the social network to collect when, where and who created each post.
How to eliminate a TikTok account in a few steps
International regulators are trying to change how TikTok works, but the most effective way today is removing your account. In case you want to eliminate your TikTok account you have to take into consideration that the Chinese social network saves the data for unlimited time. The criteria for this time differs from user to user.
- Go to your user profile in TikTok selecting the upper right corner.
- Open the Menu and go to Privacy settings.
- Select Account and go to Disable or eliminate account.
- Press Eliminate the account permanently.
- TikTok will ask you why you are leaving.
- Choose any of the reasons or Other motive to avoid any explanation.
- You can ask for a copy of the collected data.
- Confirm the order and proceed with the account elimination.
TikTok as well as other social networks allows you to restore your account during the following 30 days. After that time, the social network supposedly eliminates all your data from the social network servers.
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