One of the new security features in TikTok for snooping on people's clipboards without telling them. This only adds to the pile of privacy and security concerns already surrounding the platform.
iPhone and paste those contents on an iPad, for example. The copied data is attached to the person's Apple ID and can, therefore, be used on other devices logged into the . The new iOS 14 beta bolsters that functionality with a feature that will alert a when an app is accessing information copied to the universal clipboard.
This alert is what has unintentionally outed TikTok. When s of the iOS 14 beta open the app now, they're greeted with a message about TikTok reading the contents of their clipboard, sometimes every few keystrokes. A Forbes report on this issue has confirmed this is not a bug, meaning TikTok really is attempting to access people's clipboards multiple times per second, even when they're not trying to paste anything, and has been doing so for a while.
This Issue Was Supposed to Be Fixed Long Ago
At first glance, the problem could be considered a non-issue since many people aren't using copy and paste for anything of significance. However, universal clipboard and systems that save information like credit card numbers, social security numbers, or addresses can lead to scenarios where you're filling out an online form via your Macbook, and, if TikTok is open on your iPhone, the app can see that information when it would otherwise never get it.
The more egregious issue here is that TikTok was already aware of this issue and indicated it would correct it. The aforementioned Forbes report explains that TikTok was made aware of the problem months ago. One of the platform's spokespeople said the issue was a result of the issue would be resolved through an update. Back then, it was only possible to see TikTok was reading clipboards via digging into system log files.
Now that everyone can see the app continues to do this, and that TikTok never solved the problem, the company has changed its excuse. TikTok told the Forbes reporter this is now an issue related to an anti-spam measure. It also says a fix has been submitted to the App Store, so, hopefully, you'll see it in the next update to TikTok. The good news in all this is that the new iOS 14 feature clearly pressures app developers to stop using this incredibly shady practice.
Source: Forbes