Killer Rabbit Danger: TikTok & Apple surveil you

 Dear community, I doubt it was coincidental –  I had just downloaded TikTok last week because my wife & I were worried about my teenage daughters naive use of it. To our horror, we discovered they were violating strict house rules and promises not to post indiscreet pictures or video of themselves, etc. We thought we were immune because we had invested in honestly, transparency, and trust. 

That was last month and we took harsh steps to repair the trust. 

But, I didn’t delete TikTok from my iPhone yet. So, I was listening to today’s RA episode on TikTok, and midway through, I get a notification from TikTok that there’s great content that I will love. (I.e., My pal Siri was listening to my watching RightAngle, heard the keyword “TikTok”, and sent me an alluring “suggestion” to go to TikTok.  It was near irresitable!)

While perhaps this was coincidence, the timing was just too creepy and this wasn’t the first time I noticed stuff like this happening.  So I checked my Privacy settings and although I denied TikTok access there, they had access to Siri data. I also neglected to turn off their Notifications. 

Now I suspect THEY surveil my use of apps to a much greater degree than I had imagined. This is akin to Bill’s other warnings of profiling and manipulating us “Wolves” (E.g., see the episode called “Law Abiding”.) Who knows what friendly suggestons my kids are getting!

I’m rather technical and I’m realizing just how easy it would be to gather real actionable profile data and powerfully manipulate folks  

Please tell me, am I being paranoid?