this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2025

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251

TikTok allegedly monitoring users’ Grindr activity, digital rights group claims (www.thepinknews.com)

submitted 15 hours ago by TRAHR@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] itsathursday@lemmy.world 30 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

I wish I could packet sniff or monitor what apps are doing what on my phone. If I install a calculator, I only want it to math some numbers, not harvest data from me.

Apple is supposed to mention this in the App Store but even then it’s just a tag on an app and there’s no more details.

[–] NotSteve_@piefed.ca 8 points 7 hours ago

I know you're on iOS but for anyone else who's on Android, TrackerControl is a great easy to use app for this purpose

But for iOS OP, maybe AdGuard would help?

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 4 points 8 hours ago

Anytime you download an app, by default ir has permission to use your Cellular Data and WiFi and indexed by Siri. Best you can do is void all those and not give it any unnecessary permissions

If you have enough data (like 50+GB), try to keep WiFi off and use only cellular and disable the apps celllular oermission in the Cellular section in Settings

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 hours ago

Doesn't DuckDuckGo offer a subscription service that monitors/blocks those requests?

[–] FrostyPolicy@suppo.fi 52 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

People should stop using these ad and tracking apps disguised as some useful app.

[–] m33@lemmy.zip 35 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

TT is not a useful application, it’s a mental sickness virus. It leads to hate and self harm.

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

So is grindr. Most dehumanizing app ever, so manipulative and full of ads.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 24 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

It does give you sex in return for data, which compared to most apps, is a better return ratio.

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world -1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

It's not sex in return for data, more like “you get sex, you lose confidence and any sense of self-worth, we will also show you ads every 3 seconds.”

[–] Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

9 times out of 10 that tap or message you just got came from a fucking bot. Grindr is such a shithole app.

[–] Aneb@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago

Do you want to see sexy men from your cumputer? Here's my secret link bit/PHGR

[+] SlimePirate@lemmy.dbzer0.com -20 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

To be more honest:

Tiktok is actually very useful to find

very specific recipes
rare places to visit
specific tutorials
content in rare languages
insight from countries and cultures not found in regular media
some manifestation footage from the pov of the people
even some war/violent event footage before moderation and is better than Youtube, Reddit or a regular search engine for those.

However, it also has huge amounts of

misinformation
political propaganda
dumb people
pseudoscience
mass surveillance

and it's usage has negative effects on brain such as:

reduced attention span
distorted time perception
boredom intolerance

[–] MareOfNights@discuss.tchncs.de 25 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

This is cope. TT feeds you the information you don't need or search for it. If you search you will find better sources for everything. It's just a big advertisement platform.

Also tf is manifestation footage?

[–] HailSeitan@lemmy.world 5 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

A manifestation (or “manif” for short) is the word for a (political) protest in some languages

[–] SlimePirate@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Ahh I thought it was in English too

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

No, I interpreted it as a form of religious magical practice that's somewhat popular on social media

[–] SlimePirate@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Lmao there are self-called witches on tiktok 😭

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Yeah there are a lot of religions on most social media sites. Manifesting is interestingly increasingly popular with Christians.

[–] SlimePirate@lemmy.dbzer0.com -5 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

How tf is this cope I don't even use this shit. Just give me the better sources for everything then ? Because I know people who use it and they find things hard to find otherwise. Just because it's a shit social media doesn't mean you should lie about what it can do.

Manifestation footage is footage of a manifestation. Quite often people I know who use tiktok talk to me about things going on in other countries that are not talked about in public media

[–] MareOfNights@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I don't think its a good source for any of these, because its short videos. You don't actually look for information there, because searching for specific these specific videos is hard. If you want specific information you gotta read, because text-based info is searchable.

Recipes are on recipe websites, interesting places in local forums, same with rare languages. Tutorials are all over the internet.

Protest are definetly not on the Chinese run social media, unless China wants it to be amplified.

It's maybe good for memes.

[–] SlimePirate@lemmy.dbzer0.com -3 points 7 hours ago

Videos come with hashtags which are text and thus searchable, then the algorithm recommends similar videos or other with the same keywords that are related.

A lot of information is better in a visual format than text: tourism guides and art for example.

Sure but you must know the forums and they have way less user base than TT where you have all content with a single search engine.

Yes there are a lot, note that they have a different feed for chinese citizens where there are probably way less.

[–] kami@lemmy.dbzer0.com 30 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

To be objectively honest, all the useful things you listed are and always have been available elsewhere in the internet.

[–] WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

The Internet is bad.

[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

Careful now, these people LOVE their digital heroin

[–] bklyn@piefed.social 5 points 13 hours ago

Yikes! Glad I never used TikTok