A new web-based tool found at InAppBrowser.com allows users to see the detailed information that apps like TikTok and Instagram track when using their in-app browsers.
Breitbart News has previously reported that TikTok has confirmed that it has the ability to monitor the activity of users when browsing the web via the platform’s in-app browser. TikTok can monitor the keystrokes that users type and what they click on a web page inside the in-app browser, meaning TikTok could capture a user’s credit card information or passwords.
Shouzi Chew, chief executive officer of TikTok Inc. (Photographer: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg)
The issue was first noticed by Felix Krause, a software researcher based in Vienna, who published a report on the issue this week. “This was an active choice the company made,” Krause said. “This is a non-trivial engineering task. This does not happen by mistake or randomly.”
Now, Krause has developed a new tool which can be found at InAppBrowser.com. The tool reveals just how much information these apps track. To use the tool, open the app that you want to check and share the InAppBrowser.com URL somewhere within it, such as by DMing the link to another account or posting it in a comment. Then tap the link and receive a report from the website on the scripts the apps are running in their in-app browsers.
For those confused about the process, Krause has provided details and instructions on the website here. When asked how users can protect themselves from being tracked, Krause said: “Whenever you open a link from any app, see if the app offers a way to open the currently shown website in your default browser. During this analysis, every app besides TikTok offered a way to do this.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
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