TikTok Data Mining Weaponry

I've had it with that insidious app.

Buy a brand new Galaxy and it's preloaded. No problem I thought. Won't use it, but whatever.

It then proceeds to use up 14 gb of data in 3 weeks without me touching it.

So I said, "Okay you [expletives], gonna just delete your precious app! Ha! I win, China!"

Well, not quite.

It's the only deleted app on my new phone.

And it managed 20 GB of background data. That's more than the entirety of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter combined three times over. Must be collecting a hell of a profile.

I don't care how [expletive] big they say their video library is, there is no way thats all on the level. And there is no reason why I should have to toggle off background data just to stop this [expletive] deleted Chinese app from still mining my data.

And that Samsung encourages it through app pre-installation makes me wonder what Korean exec got his dump truck full of China money.

Sickens me because I have to go through multiple steps just to stop this Chinese state-owned app from mining data through my phone without my permission.

China's trip has always been, "Ret China do china" Well China needs to stop "doing China" on my phone without my consent.

I put this in weaponry, because TikTok is a weapon, it's China's nosey meta weapon that probably drives content which undermines its rivals. Someone should probably do something about these overt Chinese interests mining American data. No? Gotta wait a few years?

F' off China.

a reply to: Degradation33

What do you think was broadcasting all that info back to the balloon PedoPete let fly clear across the country… 🤣🤣🤣

a reply to: Degradation33

How did they force you to buy their product : Galaxy™ ?

a reply to: Degradation33

May not be what you want to hear, but you could always downgrade while still attaining a new phone, it would just be a model or two behind the newest model.

I did that with my Samsung TV because I REFUSE to be forced through my own purchase to use and sign up to the stupid PRELOADED Samsung SmartHub bloatware garbage just to get to the channels!!

I couldn't access the internet without signing into a Samsung account. Screw that. Wtf for??!!

It's just like the parking lots at strip malls; they design them to get you to circle the stores one more time before you go.

I've had it up to here with marketing manipulation.🤮

Ps- TRUMP WAS RIGHT AGAIN. Say what you will..🤷🏻

a reply to: Nothin

I don't care for Apple's love of expensive proprietary crap, and I know App pre-installation is industry standard.

TikTok was the ONLY social media app preloaded says someone at Samsung got some China money. All the data they intended to mine likely didn't come up.

I didn't have a choice (other than not buying it) to have Tiktok exvessively use my data from the moment I activated the phone, and that's what pisses me off.

Even moreso when I get a data warning because the damn app mines it in the background after deleted. This is mostly about that.

They can get away with being shady meta-spies because of that preloaded industry standard.

a reply to: EternalShadow

Ha.

I can't tell you the number of times I have not done something because it requires I create an account.

I have gotten use to needing to link my default G-mail account, and even okay with massive databases running up the data collecting marketing info, but (at very least) TikTok needs to be called out for their wildly excessive use of background data, even after you delete the app.

I can't prove why this app uses data, but it's Chinese influenced, so I gotta assume it's underhanded somehow.

My math says Viral driven social media + China = Likely Chinese psychological operation vehicle. Just can't trust The CCP and their shill ByteDance app.

a reply to: Degradation33

Everyone needs to feed their AI beast...

I was recently asked by my Chinese TV, if it could be allowed to record all of the audio played through it, to better help it advertised to me.

After having to tell it no 3 times, I disconnected it from the internet.

I'm not the least bit surprised that this happened to you. Years ago, I used to upgrade my smartphone for the added features and technology, but at a certain point those features and technology seemed to become more geared towards enabling spying. More cameras, wide lenses, better microphones, faster data transfer, this one can smell, ect.

It used to be like, "I hope there's no wire taps in my home."
Then it was, "Hey wire taps, what the weather outside", to having our wire taps with us everywhere we go.
With TicTok it's like, hey wire tap, "record me in my home dancing, and share it with everyone."

I have intentionally been sticking with a 4G only phone. It has all the features I need and is plenty fast enough. It also didn't come with TicTok preloaded.

originally posted by: SwissMarked
a reply to: Degradation33

What do you think was broadcasting all that info back to the balloon PedoPete let fly clear across the country… 🤣🤣🤣

They don't need any balloons to harvest info, they just use your phone to phone themselves.

Simple answer:- buy a phone for a phone calls, not apps, internet connection, photos, etc etc. nothing but calls.

a reply to: Degradation33

good grief....I just thougth this through.....they could access all your saved Google data?

a reply to: Degradation33

What Galaxy? I have a US version S23 Ultra and it doesn't have TikTok pre-installed.
I used 47.66 GB in June. Just under 18GB was Facebook and another 15GB was Chrome, with Outlook, Edge, Weather Channel, Spotify and Google taking up most of the rest.

originally posted by: TonyS
a reply to: Degradation33

good grief....I just thougth this through.....they could access all your saved Google data?

Who saves data to Google?

originally posted by: peter_kandra
a reply to: Degradation33

What Galaxy? I have a US version S23 Ultra and it doesn't have TikTok pre-installed.
I used 47.66 GB in June. Just under 18GB was Facebook and another 15GB was Chrome, with Outlook, Edge, Weather Channel, Spotify and Google taking up most of the rest.

That seems like way too much. I wonder what really happening.

a reply to: peter_kandra

I'm cheap, so The Galaxy A14. Still can't justify spending more a few hundred on a phone.

I have also found out from others that Tiktok may have installed itself during the setup phase. As part of a list of encouraged apps.

Never matter how though, point is screw Chinese Apps. May have jumped the gun with Samsung

Wow! 20 gigs in the background is sounding like a super weapon, like a botnet streaming directly to the PRC military.

My wife began using WeChat (a couple years ago) since she is from China and it is popular, and then I got a warning of excessive mobile data caused by it so I turned off mobile data and background data on her phone only allowing WiFi.

It sounds like TikTok and WeChat have the same ingredients of PRC spying/data mining coded right in.

originally posted by: NoCorruptionAllowed
Wow! 20 gigs in the background is sounding like a super weapon, like a botnet streaming directly to the PRC military.

My wife began using WeChat (a couple years ago) since she is from China and it is popular, and then I got a warning of excessive mobile data caused by it so I turned off mobile data and background data on her phone only allowing WiFi.

It sounds like TikTok and WeChat have the same ingredients of PRC spying/data mining coded right in.

I wonder how many gigs 24/7 audio collect would generate, and likewise, how many gigs 24/7 video collection would create.

Do you think the Chinese are so stupid that they couldn't put a hidden data mining app in a phone with out TicTok?

BTW....do you know who controls Android?

originally posted by: olaru12
Do you think the Chinese are so stupid that they couldn't put a hidden data mining app in a phone with out TicTok?

BTW....do you know who controls Android?

Hiding data collection would possibly be illegal and is morally wrong.

Getting customers to agree to having their data collected, is arguably okay.

a reply to: IndieA

I wonder how many gigs 24/7 audio collect would generate

I got a pretty good answer from ChatGPT:

Me: How much data a month would, 24 hour, 7 day a week, cellphone mic audio collection generate?

ChatGPT: The amount of data generated by continuous audio collection from a cellphone mic can vary depending on several factors, such as the audio quality, compression algorithms used, and the average bitrate of the audio stream. Here's a rough estimate based on typical scenarios: Bitrate: The average bitrate for uncompressed audio can vary, but let's assume a conservative estimate of 64 kbps (kilobits per second). Hours per day: 24 hours.

Days per week: 7 days. To calculate the data generated in a month, we can use the following formula: Data Generated = Bitrate x Hours per day x Days per week x Weeks per month Considering these assumptions, the calculation would be as follows: Data Generated = 64 kbps x 24 hours x 7 days x 4.35 weeks Converting kilobits to megabytes: Data Generated = (64 kbps x 24 hours x 7 days x 4.35 weeks) / 8 / 1024 This calculation yields an approximate result: Data Generated ≈ 2240.2 MB per month

So, continuously collecting audio from a cellphone mic under the given assumptions would generate approximately 2240.2 megabytes (or 2.2 gigabytes) of data per month. Keep in mind that this is a rough estimate, and actual data usage may vary based on factors like audio compression, codec, and other variables.

originally posted by: Terpene
a reply to: Degradation33

Everyone needs to feed their AI beast...

Are you guys training your own AI programs? Is that what's going on?

Teaching AutoGPT perhaps?