I've worked in advertising and ad-click networks for over 9 years, and it's funny to read "Banned by Google"... Google supported the most scummiest of advertising/ tracking tactics themselves, that is until someone else started doing it.

Haha man thanks! Exactly what i was thinking. By the way since when is Google any measurement for privacy or even law.

Google has been trying to build their own little silo (and used all sorts of dirty tricks in past also) for things with AMP and ads and stuff for a while. So this just sounds a bit bizarre.

Does Google collect user data using tactics banned by Google?

Not good of them, but doesn't seem like a national security threat either..

I haven't used TikTok much but the material there seems quite innocuous so I don't see how Chinese government access to data from it is a serious threat. There seems to be a lot more potentially embarrassing material posted to FB & Twitter, and I suspect the Chinese government & others are scooping up what they can, at least what's posted publicly.

I would imagine that Services/Security personnel (especially their families that live On Base) also use Tiktok (along with Garmin Connect/Strava) and the relevant people could no doubt build up an interesting picture over time.

Determining where people are directing their attention is never innocuous. It's literally what shapes peoples opinions, and knowing it is how you modify your messaging. True for both Advertising and Propaganda.

Where people are directing their attention is mostly publicly available. For example what's "trending" on social media, what posts have a lot of likes, Twitter/Facebook profiles, the contents of popular TV shows & YouTube channels, opinion polls.

Is anyone really surprised by this? I guess the people who use tiktok won't care though.

tl;dr: TikTok exploited an android security hole to collect MAC addresses likely for targeted advertising.