How TikTok Is Improving Privacy and Data Security in 2025

TikTok has become a major part of our lives for entertainment, but it has also brought several challenges related to its use. As the economy increasingly revolves around data, privacy and data security have become serious concerns that every user should take seriously. Like other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, TikTok and TikTok 18 collects a large amount of user data. This raises serious questions about its security and privacy, especially as we are moving into 2025.

The year 2024 was marked by the worst data breaches in recent times, with an alarming 2.9 billion records being compromised. Such incidents highlight the importance of addressing privacy concerns on platforms like TikTok. In this post, I’ll explore the new features and policies TikTok has introduced to improve its security. Keep reading this post to learn how these changes will protect your data and why they matter for your online safety.

What Types of Data Does TikTok Collect?

When we create an account on TikTok, the platform collects and stores various types of our data. Here are the details provided below:

Personal Information: When creating an account, the personal details we provide, such as username, name, email, phone number, profile picture, and bio details, are collected and stored.

Device Information: TikTok collects details about the user’s location, internet connection, operating system, device model, mobile carrier, time zone, language settings, and device ID. This information is stored on their servers.

Usage Information: As soon as you start using this social media platform, it begins tracking your activities. This includes the videos you watch, like, share, and comment on. Additionally, any private messages you send are also part of the data collection.

Behavioral Data: TikTok monitors how users interact with the platform. This includes tracking the content you view, your engagement with videos (such as time spent watching them), and how often you interact with the platform.

Privacy and Security Concerns on TikTok

TikTok collects different types of user data, as I mentioned earlier, which is similar to the data gathered by most social media platforms. The main purpose of collecting this data is to create a detailed user profile so that the TikTok Algorithm can show content that matches the user’s interests. However, this raises privacy concerns, especially about whether the data is shared with outside entities or third parties for advertising or other uses.

When it comes to TikTok, the platform lacks transparency about its approach to user privacy. It doesn’t explicitly outline such practices in its terms and privacy policy, making it unclear whether these policies are user-friendly and safe. Additionally, there is no clear information on where TikTok stores this data or how it processes it, leaving users with unanswered questions about their data’s safety and privacy.

As far as TikTok’s data security is concerned, no major flaws or issues have been identified so far. The most common concern is that since TikTok is a Chinese company, it might share user data with the Chinese government. According to an article published by New York, it was mentioned that in several investigations conducted by the CIA, there is no evidence to support the claim that TikTok spies on its users or shares their data with Chinese authorities.

So far, there is no strong proof to suggest that TikTok’s privacy and data security practices are unsafe, but it’s hard to predict what may happen in the future. In other words, TikTok and TikTok 18 are safe to use.

A Look at TikTok’s Privacy History

To address past privacy challenges and controversies, TikTok launched an open-source initiative in 2023 called “Privacy Innovation.” The main goal of this initiative was to make user data more secure and protected. TikTok has introduced these key features in its privacy roadmap under this initiative:

PrivacyGo: A system designed to secure your data by allowing TikTok to analyze it without accessing your personal information.

PETAce: This approach enables collaboration between different parties on data while ensuring the data itself remains private.

Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs): These are secure spaces within a device that protect any data being processed.

Privacy Platform: A system for secure and private data analysis across various areas or domains.

Privacy and Data Security Features of TikTok in 2025

In just a few days, we’ll step into 2025, a year where we remain uncertain about the privacy and data security challenges that might arise in the online world. As I mentioned earlier, 2024 was one of the worst years in terms of data breaches, and it’s likely that we’ll face similar challenges in 2025. To improve data security and privacy policies next year, TikTok is expected to introduce new features and policies. These may include:

End-to-End Encryption: While regular TikTok and TikTok 18 already has end-to-end encryption for private messages, it is anticipated that by 2025, the app will extend this feature to video calls as well. This will make data communication on the platform more secure and safe, providing an extra layer of security.

Permission-Based Data Sharing: Previously, TikTok did not clearly announce which user data it shared with third-party platforms. However, starting in 2025, the platform will require explicit permission from users before sharing any data with external entities. This change will give users greater control over their information, allowing them to decide what data is shared and with whom.

More Strict Account Verification: Like Facebook and Instagram, TikTok also faces a number of fake accounts and bots. These accounts are often used for illegal and harmful activities such as posting harmful content, engaging in spam activities, and cyberbullying. Additionally, these bots pose serious security risks, acting as gateways for hacking and malicious activities.

This becomes a challenge for TikTok, its users, and advertising companies, as it’s difficult to distinguish between real users and bots. To address these issues in 2025, TikTok has implemented several security measures. These include a strict verification process, AI-powered detection systems to identify suspicious activities, and user reporting tools to report or block such accounts on TikTok.

Real-Time Threat Detection on TikTok: TikTok is set to enhance its advanced AI and machine learning system to improve real-time threat detection. These algorithms will track and mitigate malicious and spam activities on the platform. Here’s how they will work:

Identify and Prevent Cyber Attacks: The system will scan and detect unusual login attempts, unauthorized access, and similar hacking activities. Upon finding such activities, it will instantly alert users and block these actions.

Phishing Protection: Phishing remains a highly effective hacking technique, often involving fake login pages or malicious links. TikTok will continuously monitor for such phishing attempts and prevent users from interacting with them.

Content Moderation: Fake accounts and bots are frequently used to share harmful content, scams, or malicious advertisements. TikTok’s AI tools will track and remove these accounts in real-time, ensuring a safer platform for users.

New Privacy Options for Users: TikTok plans to provide users with more control over their account privacy through customizable settings. These settings will allow users to personalize their profiles and content further. Additionally, users will have options to keep their browsing and viewing history private.

Compliance with Global Regulations: TikTok is now taking big measures to meet global data privacy laws such as GDPR and CCPA. According to these regulations, the platform will store data on country-specific servers to comply with local laws. Furthermore, it will provide clear insights into how data is collected and used.