The social network TikTok is under the scrutiny of the United States Government and the European Union. Among other reasons, the lack of transparency in usage policies and indiscriminate data collection is alleged. We are going to explain to you what user data it collects, for how long and how to delete your TikTok account.
First of all, you should know that all social networks collect, to a greater or lesser extent, user information. It is usually explained in the terms and conditions of service, which, let’s be honest, we never read.
Actually, the information collected by the TikTok social network does not differ excessively from that obtained by other social networks. The big problem that governments and regulators allege is in the origin of the application: China. Leaving aside this factor, we will explain in general terms what data it collects and, later, how to delete our account.
What personal information does TikTok collect?
All the information is on the privacy policy page of this social network. The truth is that it is not fun to read, since it is written by legal experts and in a technical and ambiguous way. But, we are going to try to explain it to you in a simple and summary way.
First of all, all the content that we have generated, being photographs, videos, live shows, comments, texts, hashtags and other elements. Additionally, it collects associated metadata, such as when, where and who generated the content.
They also collect information when we compose, send or receive a private message on the platform. Additionally, they collect chat messages when we communicate with sellers within the platform. The information includes the content of the message and other information, such as when it was sent, who received and/or read it, and the participants in the conversation.
Purchase information, including payment card numbers or data from payment gateways such as PayPal. In addition, they save the history of transactions and purchases through or from the platform.
They expose from the social network that they can collect or receive information from us from organizations, companies, people and others. They highlight that sources can be government authorities, professional organizations and charities.
It is highlighted that advertisers, measurement teams and other partners share with TikTok information about us and actions taken outside the social network.
Does all this seem very strong to you? Well wait, there’s still the best part and that is that TikTok details the data it collects:
- They store approximate location data, based on our SIM card and/or IP address. But it also saves data on tourist attractions, shops or other points of interest if we add the location to the uploaded content.
- They can collect information from videos, images and audio of the generated content. They can even identify objects and landscapes, facial and body features and attributes, the nature of the audio and text of the words spoken by the user in the content.
- They highlight that they store metadata that provides information that is not evident to the viewer. Among others, they compile how, when, where and who created it, or how it was formatted.
How to delete my TikTok account?
The information collected by the social network is brutal, which is why international regulators are concerned about it. In addition, TikTok establishes that the data retention period is “as long as necessary” and until “as necessary.”
They even specify that the periods vary according to “different criteria, such as the type of information and the purposes for which we use the information.” Come on, there are plenty of reasons to delete our social network account.
To do this, we must go to our user profile within TikTok, located in the lower right corner. Now, we open the “Menu” which are three lines located in the upper right corner.
Next, we must go to the “Settings and privacy” section. Once inside, we must go to the “Account” section and at the end we will see the option to “Deactivate or delete the account.” Inside we will see the option to “Delete the permanent account” and click on this option.
The social network asks us “Why are you leaving TikTok?” and gives us several reasons. We can choose any of the options or choose “Other reason” to not give further explanations.
Now, it tells us that we can request a copy of the data that the application has collected. Then, we must click on “you accept that you have reviewed your data request and want to proceed with deleting the account.”
As a last step, it tells us that the account will be deactivated for 30 days and that during this “grace” period we can reactivate it whenever you want. After this, the account and all the data associated with it on the social network servers.
