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Report: Apple Caught China-Owned TikTok Spying on Millions of iPhone Users
Breitbart ^ | 27 Jun 2020 | TOM CICCOTTA

Posted on 06/27/2020 12:43:04 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

A report published on Friday suggests that the megapopular China-owned social media application TikTok was spying on users through a vulnerability in the latest version of Apple’s iOS smartphone firmware.

According to a report by Forbes, the popular social media platform TikTok may have been spying on millions of users by spying on data copied to their iPhones’ clipboard through a vulnerability in the latest iOS smartphone firmware.

The vulnerability, which allows application developers to access a user’s clipboard, data was modified on June 23 by Apple. Now, users will be prompted with a notification when an application gains access to their clipboard data.

A representative from TikTok told Forbes that the issue occurred as a result of a feature that was implemented to prevent spam on the platform.

According to TikTok, the issue is now “triggered by a feature designed to identify repetitive, spammy behavior,” and has told me that it has “already submitted an updated version of the app to the App Store removing the anti-spam feature to eliminate any potential confusion.” In other words: We’ve been caught doing something we shouldn’t, we’ve rushed out a fix.

TikTok claims that the clipboard access issues were triggered by an older version of the Google advertising SDK.

“The clipboard access issues,” the TikTok representative added, “showed up due to third-party SDKs, in our case an older version Google Ads SDK, so we do not get access to the information through this (presumably they do but we cannot speak to that). We are in the processes of updating so that the third-party SDK will no longer have access.”

Breitbart News reported at the beginning of June that children spend almost as much time on TikTok as they do on YouTube. The report revealed that children approximately 80 minutes on each application...

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: china; internet; spying; tiktok
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1 posted on 06/27/2020 12:43:04 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Is there anyone who is NOT spying on us?


2 posted on 06/27/2020 12:45:21 PM PDT by tubebender
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Good thing only TikTok exploited the vulnerability


3 posted on 06/27/2020 12:45:38 PM PDT by Gene Eric ( Don't be a statist!)
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To: tubebender

I’m not ... honest. Would I lie?


4 posted on 06/27/2020 12:49:17 PM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

These are one of the times I’m glad I have a stupid phone.


5 posted on 06/27/2020 12:50:33 PM PDT by lizma2
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

So we have a Communist Chinese entity interfering in a US election by trying to sandbag Trump and engaging in espionage. Where’s the outrage? The Democrats are cheering these people on.


6 posted on 06/27/2020 12:57:16 PM PDT by Bayan
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

This came out a few days ago: https://www.boredpanda.com/tik-tok-reverse-engineered-data-information-collecting/

“TikTok might not meet the exact criteria to be called “Malware”, but it’s definitely nefarious and (in my humble opinion) outright evil,” Bangorlol said. “There’s a reason governments are banning it. Don’t use the app. Don’t let your children use it. Tell your friends to stop using it. It offers you nothing but a quick source of entertainment that you can get elsewhere without handing your data over to the Chinese government. You are directly putting yourself and those on your network (work and home) at risk.”


7 posted on 06/27/2020 12:57:57 PM PDT by WellyP (question!)
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To: WellyP

Think of this: If it’s free that means YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THEY ARE SELLING!


8 posted on 06/27/2020 12:59:44 PM PDT by WellyP (question!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Tik Tok was behind the rally fraud for Trump’s rally.


9 posted on 06/27/2020 1:08:11 PM PDT by kaehurowing
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To: Gene Eric

Yeah, I can’t think of a single useful thing that a TikTok user would have for any Government spying on them.


10 posted on 06/27/2020 1:08:22 PM PDT by alancarp (George Orwell was an optimist.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Surprised? How many other Chicom products spy on us?


11 posted on 06/27/2020 1:08:28 PM PDT by I want the USA back (THERE ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO BE A DEBATE TRUMP VS BIDEN! It will be the best show ever!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
China? Spying?


12 posted on 06/27/2020 1:09:19 PM PDT by null and void (It never ends when you go down that slippery slope of digging for the truth.)
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To: alancarp

Meantime, though, here’s a memo to the rest of the planet: DON’T USE ANY SOFTWARE FROM CHINA!


13 posted on 06/27/2020 1:09:22 PM PDT by alancarp (George Orwell was an optimist.)
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To: WellyP

Facebook has sold your data to China.

Multiple times.


14 posted on 06/27/2020 1:09:52 PM PDT by kaehurowing
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Not directly related to your post however, for some reason, as a Christian, the apple company logo has always made me just a bit uncomfortable for some reason. I know that sounds a little like something a Karen would say but still...I know the conventional story but always thought that logo was a little odd.


15 posted on 06/27/2020 1:20:54 PM PDT by V_TWIN
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Xi again? or FauXi too. or Gates too.


16 posted on 06/27/2020 1:27:38 PM PDT by Diogenesis
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

How does this get by Apple? Are we supposed to believe they didn’t see this d0pe call to the Clipboard?


17 posted on 06/27/2020 1:37:59 PM PDT by StAnDeliver (I don't owe you my freedom.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Anyone who willingly uses this app is a fool.


18 posted on 06/27/2020 1:39:02 PM PDT by Shady (One More Time: CO2 is PLANT FOOD! Without it we die. Any questions?)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Bkmk


19 posted on 06/27/2020 1:42:00 PM PDT by sauropod (Quarantine is when you restrict sick people, tyranny is when you restrict healthy people.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I thought Apple had a strict process to approve apps on its website?


20 posted on 06/27/2020 1:46:49 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Why do Democrats support terrorism?)
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