The most sensitive information this pixel captures is potential major interests of prospective students.” Dan Olsen, the university spokesperson also said, “They help us target our advertising to relevant audiences. One school, Michigan State University, uses it to “help generate interest in applying to and enrolling courses at Michigan State”. While the data is used for targeted ads and ad effectiveness, TikTok spokesperson Melanie Bosselait said the data 'is not used to group individuals into particular interest categories for other advertisers to target.' Data collected from non-TikTok users, however, are used in aggregated reports sent to advertisers.ĬR also reported why websites use pixels (on top of other trackers).

'I don’t think people connect that with TikTok yet.'Īmong other data, TikTok collects the IP address a unique number the page a user is on and what they're clicking, typing, or searching for. 'I think people are conditioned to think, 'Facebook is everywhere, and whatever, they're going to get my data.',' said Disconnect Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Patrick Jackson. It turns out that pixels are already widespread. In TikTok's case, the company embeds a tracker called a 'pixel.' Pixel gathers user data from these websites to help companies target ads and measure how these work.ĬR sought the aid of security firm Disconnect to scan for websites containing TikTok’s pixel, paying particular attention to sites that regularly deal with sensitive information, such as. However you look at it, Facebook gets your data. The only difference is that the browser sends a limited set of data. Something similar happens to users who are either logged out of Facebook or don't have an account. According to this Facebook Help Centre page, if a logged-in user visits a website with this button, the browser sends user data to Facebook so it can load content to that website.

Meta's near-omnipresence wherever you are online enabled it to gather data on users, even those who don't have Facebook accounts-thanks, in part, to the Facebook 'Like' button, a piece of code embedded on most websites. If this sounds familiar, it's because it's happened before. Consumer Reports (CR), a US-based nonprofit consumer organization, has revealed that TikTok gathers data on people who don't even use the app itself.

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