Concerns raised over TikTok harvesting people’s data without their consent

Former Labor senator Stephen Conroy has responded to independent MPs who say the government needs to start regulating how companies use people’s data after concerns TikTok was harvesting people’s data without their consent. Australian businesses are being told to remove a tracking tool from TikTok over concerns companies are harvesting people’s data without their consent, as the Chinese-owned social media giant can access a person’s email, phone numbers and browse history using a tracking tool known as a pixel. It uses an invisible code, which can be used even if the user doesn’t have a TikTok account. “All social media is really about data harvesting,” Mr Conroy told Sky News Australia. “What the difference with TikTok is is that it’s being harvested by a company which we know is controlled by the Chinese government. “If you want to look at why the Western world … is being so influenced in favour of the Hamas side of the argument, you’ve just got to go to TikTok and [see the] propaganda that the Chinese are allowing to be across TikTok.”