TikTok unlawfully tracks shopping habits and use of dating apps?

Industry-wide tracking, not just TikTok

• Many argue TikTok’s behavior is typical of the ad‑tech industry: “everyone does it,” from social media to ecommerce and search.
• Several comments stress the key point from the complaint: TikTok is not literally reading other apps on your phone; it’s buying data funneled from dating apps and brokers (e.g., via firms like AppsFlyer), often server‑side.
• This implies uninstalling TikTok doesn’t stop sensitive dating data being sold; the root problem is apps and merchants exporting data to many networks.

Limits of technical defenses and permissions

• GrapheneOS, rooted phones, and “fake permissions” are discussed, but several note that for this kind of tracking only network access and fingerprinting are needed; OS permission prompts give a false sense of control.
• People mention using only web versions of services, running pfBlocker‑NG, Pi‑hole, or DNS proxies for whole‑home ad/tracker blocking, and disabling JavaScript where possible.
• Others emphasize these tools only help on networks you control and when trackers are on separate domains; users “deserve privacy” even without such setups.
• Tor is suggested, but some argue it can make you more fingerprintable by shrinking the anonymity set; TikTok is described as extremely good at behavioral fingerprinting.

Regulation, enforcement, and consent

• There’s skepticism that GDPR complaints will have teeth; expectations include years of delay, technical dismissals, or token fines.
• Others counter that much of this behavior is already illegal under GDPR (consent, purpose limitation, access/deletion rights) but simply under‑enforced.
• Proposals include truly punitive fines (e.g., multiple years of earnings) and explicit, stronger consent laws; some express cynicism that legislators are captured or uninterested.

Advertising ecosystem and cross‑platform linkage

• “Inside baseball” from ecommerce: many stores send full order data to numerous ad networks via APIs, regardless of source traffic. Even non‑TikTok users can end up in TikTok’s datasets this way.
• Discussion of identical TikTok/Instagram feeds raises possibilities: direct data sharing, crawling public profiles, third‑party ad/analytics tracking (pixels), or just strong demographic/behavioral targeting. No consensus; mechanisms remain unclear.

Digital/mental hygiene and opting out

• Several participants describe quitting TikTok/Instagram/Reddit, cutting screentime, using e‑ink devices, RSS, and strict blockers, framing it as “digital” or “dopamine” hygiene.
• A recurring view: the only reliable protection is to “not play” — avoid addictive, data‑harvesting platforms altogether, even at social or convenience cost.