Close To Half Of TikTok Users Are Worried About Their Privacy

In spite of recent efforts to reduce tensions between the United States and China, the talk of ban remains present. The concerns stem from TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and the possibility of harvesting data by the Chinese government.
In the latest study by Surfshark, exactly 47% of TikTok users are worry about their privacy. Coincidentally, about half of the users have used TikTok’s built-in tools to adjust to their preferred privacy settings.

As the visual above shows, the group most concerned with privacy are Millennials. On the other hand, Gen Z and Gen X are not as worried about how their data is harvested.
“In an era where numerous apps gather vast amounts of personal data, it becomes imperative to educate ourselves about the countries and companies behind these platforms. Being informed about the destination of our data is crucial for safeguarding privacy and making informed decisions about the apps we choose to engage with”, says Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, Surfshark spokeswoman.
TikTok has experienced a regression and stron opposition with members of both parties within the U.S. government. TikTok is no longer available devices issued to public officials and Montana has banned the app entirely at the state level. It will be difficult for them to enforce it because the technology is not local and there are VPN technologies that can allow users to bypass this restriction.
Below is an additional list of key findings from this survey:
“Millennial users are the most concerned about their privacy on TikTok — 56% claimed to be concerned.”
“Gen Z users stand out as the group least concerned about their data being collected by TikTok, with only 39% expressing concern. This suggests that younger people are likely more comfortable with large companies handling their information than older generations.”
“Gen X users are only slightly more concerned at 40%.”
“16% of the users concerned about their privacy have not adjusted their privacy settings to limit data collection, hinting at a potential knowledge gap regarding users’ rights and the available options for adjusting privacy settings.”