TikTok shares more of your data than any other app, and a study says it's not clear where it goes

A recent study found that YouTube and TikTok collect more personal data than any other social media apps, but how TikTok uses that data remains a complete mystery. 

Mobile marketing company URL Genius used the Record App Activity in Apple’s iOS 15.2 to which apps communicate with outside networks. YouTube and TikTok registered the most network contacts at 14 each – a significant jump from the average of 6 connections among other apps, such as Twitter, Telegram, Snapchat, and Whatsapp.

More than the number of contacts was the type of contacts each app made: YouTube made 10 first-party contacts, but TikTok made 13 third-party contacts. The tracking still happened even when users didn’t opt into allow tracking. 

"Consumers are currently unable to see what data is shared with third-party networks, or how their data will be used," the report said, noting that third-party contacts could not be identified.