Report: TikTok secretly collected device data in Android app in violation of Google policies

TikTok tracked the MAC (media access control) addresses – unique hardware identifiers assigned to a network interface – of users’ Android phones, possibly for advertising purposes, per the Journal story. TikTok stopped the practice in November 2019. — Bloomberg

LOS ANGELES: TikTok collected device-specific addresses of users’ smartphones via its Android app for at least 15 months over 2018-19, using a technique that Google had banned developers from using without user consent, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

TikTok tracked the MAC (media access control) addresses – unique hardware identifiers assigned to a network interface – of users’ Android phones, possibly for advertising purposes, per the Journal story. TikTok stopped the practice in November 2019. The popular video-sharing app is facing a potential ban in the US over national-security concerns, given its ownership by Chinese Internet giant ByteDance.