TikTok Created List of Users Who Watched LGBT Content

TikTok compiled a list of users who watch LGBT content on the app.

According to former employees who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, TikTok users who watched LGBT content were included on a list that could be viewed by authorized staff. Users were identifiable from their ID number, which TikTok gives each user when they start watching videos on the popular app.

In its report, the Journal notes that the practice took place for “at least a year” and was done in order to understand trends and find ways to boost engagement on the platform. The employees said that TikTok also created lists of users who watched different content, but those topics were not considered to be sensitive.

TikTok, which did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment, told the Journal that “safeguarding the privacy and security of people who use TikTok is one of our top priorities.”

A spokesperson for the popular video app was quoted by the Journal as saying that TikTok “doesn’t identify potentially sensitive information such as sexual orientation or race of users based on what they choose to watch,” nor does TikTok “infer such information.” The spokeswoman added that the data collected purely represents users’ interests and “isn’t necessarily a sign of someone’s identity” and that prior to the data’s deletion, TikTok had “protocols” in place to ensure sensitive data was only seen by authorized employees.

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The Journal’s report adds that TikTok workers in the US, UK, and Australia raised concerns about the data collection practice to higher-level executives at the company in 2020 and 2021, amid fears that some employees might share the data with outside parties or use it to blackmail users. The data collection was also criticized for potentially including a list of vulnerable users who could face harassment and violence for being LGBT or being perceived to be LGBT.

In 2021, TikTok restricted access to the dashboard that contained the data, and stopped labeling the tracked content as LGBT. In 2022, the short-form video app deleted the dashboard and moved the data to the company’s newly made US unit, which, the Journal reports, a “smaller number of authorized employees” can access.