TikTok Privacy Risk Prevention

BlackFog has introduced TikTok privacy prevention for all users of BlackFog Privacy. This new feature available in BlackFog 4.5 and above dynamically detects data exfiltration events from TikTok to remote servers to maintain user privacy.

TikTok, with over 1 billion users, has been seen as a large privacy risk in recent months as it has been exposed for using questionable data collection techniques such as clipboard sniffing and sending detailed user demographics and behavior to remote servers. Since TikTok is owned by a Beijing-based company called ByteDance, the suspicion is that this information is being sent to China. While there is currently no definitive proof of data exfiltration to China, the company is regulated under Chinese law and therefore must comply with any government data requests. To ensure data privacy BlackFog utilizes geofencing technology to ensure that no data is exfiltrated to China.

There are clear indications that the app contains embedded addresses that point to Chinese servers, and as recently as 2019 the app had embedded code from Chinese search engine Baidu and Igexin which has been linked to spying.

Several governments have called for or banned TikTok entirely. India recently banned TikTok over security concerns and the US government is still considering a ban on the software. BlackFog provides an additional layer of security specifically designed to prevent TikTok from profiling, collecting and exfiltrating data from personal or corporate devices.

In May 2025, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined TikTok €530 million (~$600 million) for unlawfully transferring European user data to China during a “select period” ending May 2023.

TikTok admitted that European user data had been stored on Chinese servers—contradicting earlier claims—and the regulator ruled this violated GDPR due to inadequate safeguards and transparency. TikTok plans to appeal.

In July 2025, EU regulators launched a new probe into TikTok’s ongoing data practices, following the earlier ruling.

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies warn TikTok’s owner, ByteDance (based in China), could be compelled under Chinese intelligence law to provide access to user data.

The U.S. Department of Justice alleges TikTok collected sensitive user opinions on issues like abortion or gun control and transferred this data to Chinese-based engineers via an internal tool called Lark, with backups stored in China.