Protections for users pale in comparison with rivals Facebook and Instagram, cybersecurity professionals say
The world’s current most downloaded iPhone app has come under fire from cybersecurity experts for a lack of privacy settings, just days after a Post investigation found hundreds of Hong Kong children as young as nine exposing their identities on the platform.
Despite its parent company being a tech pioneer valued at more than US$20 billion, protections for users of Tik Tok pale in comparison with rivals Facebook and Instagram, experts said.
Its sister app, Musical.ly, has already sparked concern in the United States and Australia over its failure to protect children from harassment, according to one of three experts interviewed by the Post.
Their warning came a week after an investigation found Hong Kong primary-school children were placing themselves at risk by exposing their identities on the app, which has taken the city by storm in the past year.
“I think it does a lousy job of protecting child users’ privacy and safety compared with other mainstream platforms,” Hong Kong Information Technology Federation councillor Eric Fan Kin-man said after testing the app.
SCMP
PUBLISHED : Monday, 28 May, 2018, 8:00am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 29 May, 2018, 4:58pm