Rumours about the TikTok Spyware is circulating on the internet. People love getting attention, and they love getting noticed by other people. Human nature has paved the way for the rise of social media.
It makes them believe that they are a little more famous than they are elsewhere. When Instagram and Facebook were going off the charts, TikTok came into action.
To be honest, they went one step further by making people celebrities. This attracted a wider range of audience. At this point in time, TikTok has millions of users worldwide. But will these rumours about the TikTok Spyware be its doom?
The Accusation
TikTok has been facing a lot of accusations recently. One of them is from Steve Huffman. Huffman is the CEO and Co-founder of Reddit which is a digital forum.
He mentioned that the application is fundamentally parasitic in nature. He also accuses that the entire mobile application is modified spyware.
Steve made this accusation at the 2030’s venture capital conference. Elliot Schrage who is the chief of Facebook’s public policy and Sam Lessin who is the former VP of Facebook were present in the scene.
Steve got aggressive when he heard suggestions about Silicon Valley Startups learning from TikTok.
It might seem rude and aggressive but Steve has his reasons. He finds the app to be parasitic because it is listening to us every time.
He states that he personally will not install such an app on his phone. He thinks that the TikTok Spyware could steal all his data without consent.
The Reasons Behind his Aggression
Steve thinks that the Finger-printing technology used in TikTok is dangerous. It constantly listens to the audio from the user.
It also tracks the browsing pattern of the user to decide the type of content which the user likes to see.
The ByteDance is the parent company of TikTok. They claim that this technology is only used to prevent abnormal browser behaviour.
But the app will continue to work effectively even without it. Although it seems like a smart invention, it is not appropriate to spy on people without them knowing.
Huffman adds that he refers to TikTok as spyware in his daily life. He says that he used to suggest people directly not to install spyware like TikTok on your phone.
TikTok’s Reply
A speaker from TikTok made a comment about this issue in a recent meeting. The speaker says that the allegations made by Steve Huffman are pointless.
The company accuses Steve of making accusations without having any real proof. This is not the first challenge which TikTok is facing.
In fact, right from its beginning, TikTok has been facing several lawsuits. The most popular one among them is the one which accused TikTok of stealing data from the US to China illegally.
No matter how many lawsuits they face, the application still manages to be popular. The application reportedly has over 700 million downloads.
This is far more than what Facebook has. Whatsapp still stands tall with over 850 million downloads. In 2019, TikTok made revenue of a little over $176 million.
To Conclude
TikTok has millions of users worldwide. The number is only increasing every year. It is not yet sure whether the TikTok Spyware accusation would damage its reputation.
Due to its reach, the World Health Organization has now created a profile in TikTok. It aims to reach a lot of people along the way to provide them with health advisory.
This would be useful in times like these where people are afraid of the corona outbreak.
