TikTok says it will stop accessing clipboard content on iOS devices

TikTok says it will stop accessing users’ clipboard content on iOS devices, after a new privacy transparency feature in iOS 14 revealed that the video-sharing platform was continuing the practice it promised to suspend last year, the Telegraph reported.

Every time a third-party app accesses the clipboard of an iOS 14 device, a notification appears. Users discovered that TikTok was reviewing the clipboard content every few clicks, even when the app was running in the background.

TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, had said earlier this year that it planned to stop accessing the device’s clipboards. Telegraph reported, but did not give a firm date.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement emailed to The edge On Friday, he had sent an update to the App Store to remove the feature, which he described as an “anti-spam” measure. The feature was never introduced on Android devices, according to the company.

After the beta release of iOS 14 on June 22, users saw notifications while using a number of popular apps. For TikTok, this was triggered by a feature designed to identify repetitive and unwanted behavior, “the spokesperson said, adding that the company was” committed to protecting user privacy and being transparent about how our app works. “

TikTok has been criticized for past security issues; In February 2019, the company paid $ 5.7 million to the Federal Trade Commission for alleged violations of COPPA, a children’s privacy law. I had allowed children under the age of 13 to subscribe to the app without parental consent. Since then, changes have been made to the app that increased parental controls.

And several U.S. government agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Navy, and the Army, have banned the use of the app on government-issued devices, citing security concerns about ByteDance’s connections with the Chinese government.