• TikTok collects data even from non-registered users
• Experts warn against using the information to influence users

Tech experts reported that the popular video app TikTok hasn’t limited its tracking to registered users only, extending its activity to people who never created accounts on the platform.

Tech writer Thomas Germain explained that the platform collects sensitive information from websites, including disease diagnoses and mental health data, using these sites as a means to extract personal details.

An anonymous user added that when they indicated their status as a “cancer patient or survivor” on a form, their personal information and email were immediately sent to TikTok.

Germain also noted that other health companies, such as fertility clinics, shared user information with the platform, raising concerns about data privacy.

This development comes after TikTok was sold to new owners in a deal that allowed the app to continue operating in the U.S. following pressure from former President Donald Trump’s administration.

Officials in both the Trump and Biden administrations previously stated that TikTok posed a cybersecurity risk to the U.S. due to its connection with the Chinese company ByteDance, which retains a 19.9% stake.

A recent report confirmed that the app still poses a major privacy threat, given how it uses embedded Pixels in ads, emails, and webpages to track user behavior and analyze data.

The report also said TikTok introduced a new advertising system allowing targeted ads to appear even outside the app, upgrading its tracking tools in the process.

This makes data collection far more comprehensive, even intercepting information sent from websites to Google without explicit consent.

Privacy experts warned that such data could influence users’ decisions, whether in purchases, political campaigns, or price discrimination.

The app also collects GPS location data from devices that allow location services.

TikTok representatives responded to the claims, asserting the platform is transparent about data collection, that Pixels are an industry-standard tool used across most social media platforms, and that users have privacy tools they can enable.

Experts confirmed that users can protect themselves by switching to more secure browsers like DuckDuckGo or Brave, installing tracker-blocking software such as Privacy Badger, controlling location settings on iPhones, and preventing app and website tracking via iOS’s App Tracking Transparency feature.