<story><title>TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act</title><url>https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/25/tiktok-clipboard-access-ios-14-caught/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>zkid18</author><text>Great to see another layer of transparency in ios14.&lt;p&gt;Bit I wonder why everyone talking about one specific app?
I see a huge bias towards TikTok in headlines&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;iOS 14 caught TikTok and other apps spying on the clipboard&amp;quot; [0]&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;iOS 14 beta shows apps like TikTok still spy on your iPhone&amp;quot; [1]&lt;p&gt;There a bunch of apps like VICE, Google News, WSJ that has been caught doing exactly the same. [2]&lt;p&gt;I may find the explanation why TikTok did that. In China WeChat blocks direct links to their competitors. So apps like Taobao or Douyin have to find a workaround for deeplinks.
When you want to share the video from Douyin with a friend in WeChat, Douyin generates the following message.&lt;p&gt;在东京刚毕业入职三个月的职场小白 搬家找房 坚持更新#日本vlog #东京 &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;v.douyin.com&amp;#x2F;J8ceMYY&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;v.douyin.com&amp;#x2F;J8ceMYY&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; 复制此链接，打开【抖音短视频】，直接观看视频！&lt;p&gt;In WeChat the link is not clickbale. To see the content user has to copy full text and go to the Douyin. The app will read the clipboard and perform the transition to the video. On the link below you can find the video - explanation [3]&lt;p&gt;Probably they had re-use some code in TikTok. Definitely they need to be more accurate towards data safety but I don&amp;#x27;t think they really made a pipeline for spying using clipboard.&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of buzz around TikTok these days, but I want to get an answer from other apps as well.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;bgr.com&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;26&amp;#x2F;ios-14-beta-privacy-features-tiktok-spying-clipboard-data&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;bgr.com&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;26&amp;#x2F;ios-14-beta-privacy-features-tikt...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mashable.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;iphone-ios-14-privacy-clipboard-apple-apps&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mashable.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;iphone-ios-14-privacy-clipboard...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=pRSWdtoUAjo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=pRSWdtoUAjo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;kidrulit&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1277629462721384448&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;kidrulit&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1277629462721384448&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>stronglikedan</author><text>&amp;gt; Bit I wonder why everyone talking about one specific app?&lt;p&gt;In this particular case, I think it&amp;#x27;s because the person who apparently discovered it claims that other apps &amp;quot;don&amp;#x27;t collect anywhere near the same amount of data that TikTok does&amp;quot;. [0]&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; For what it&amp;#x27;s worth I&amp;#x27;ve reversed the Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter apps. They don&amp;#x27;t collect anywhere near the same amount of data that TikTok does, and they sure as hell aren&amp;#x27;t outright trying to hide exactly whats being sent like TikTok is. It&amp;#x27;s like comparing a cup of water to the ocean - they just don&amp;#x27;t compare.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;videos&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;fxgi06&amp;#x2F;not_new_news_but_tbh_if_you_have_tiktiok_just_get&amp;#x2F;fmuko1m&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;videos&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;fxgi06&amp;#x2F;not_new_news...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act</title><url>https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/25/tiktok-clipboard-access-ios-14-caught/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>zkid18</author><text>Great to see another layer of transparency in ios14.&lt;p&gt;Bit I wonder why everyone talking about one specific app?
I see a huge bias towards TikTok in headlines&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;iOS 14 caught TikTok and other apps spying on the clipboard&amp;quot; [0]&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;iOS 14 beta shows apps like TikTok still spy on your iPhone&amp;quot; [1]&lt;p&gt;There a bunch of apps like VICE, Google News, WSJ that has been caught doing exactly the same. [2]&lt;p&gt;I may find the explanation why TikTok did that. In China WeChat blocks direct links to their competitors. So apps like Taobao or Douyin have to find a workaround for deeplinks.
When you want to share the video from Douyin with a friend in WeChat, Douyin generates the following message.&lt;p&gt;在东京刚毕业入职三个月的职场小白 搬家找房 坚持更新#日本vlog #东京 &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;v.douyin.com&amp;#x2F;J8ceMYY&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;v.douyin.com&amp;#x2F;J8ceMYY&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; 复制此链接，打开【抖音短视频】，直接观看视频！&lt;p&gt;In WeChat the link is not clickbale. To see the content user has to copy full text and go to the Douyin. The app will read the clipboard and perform the transition to the video. On the link below you can find the video - explanation [3]&lt;p&gt;Probably they had re-use some code in TikTok. Definitely they need to be more accurate towards data safety but I don&amp;#x27;t think they really made a pipeline for spying using clipboard.&lt;p&gt;There is a lot of buzz around TikTok these days, but I want to get an answer from other apps as well.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;bgr.com&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;26&amp;#x2F;ios-14-beta-privacy-features-tiktok-spying-clipboard-data&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;bgr.com&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;26&amp;#x2F;ios-14-beta-privacy-features-tikt...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mashable.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;iphone-ios-14-privacy-clipboard-apple-apps&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mashable.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;iphone-ios-14-privacy-clipboard...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=pRSWdtoUAjo&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=pRSWdtoUAjo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;kidrulit&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1277629462721384448&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;kidrulit&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1277629462721384448&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>thewindow</author><text>Just because other apps do that is no excuse for bad behaviour. Almost all apps get flack for bad behaviour. Tiktok is the newest popular thing on the block and it is expected to be widely covered.
Honestly it is okay to discuss the bar behaviours of an app without blaming other apps.</text></comment>