Australian companies are taking TikTok to task and have removed its controversial tracking pixel from their websites.
The likes of Vodafone, Western Sydney University, Network 10, Bunnings and Mitre10, as well as Tourism NT, Tourism Tasmania, Tourism Queensland and Sydney Opera House have taken heed, after the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) set up an inquiry late last year into TikTok's tracking pixel.
"TikTok’s practices of harvesting the private contact information, browsing history and shopping habits of Australian internet users apparently without consent is deeply concerning and highly likely to be unlawful," stated the OAIC at the time. "Especially troubling is that the data of non-TikTok users is allegedly being collected as part of this scheme."
Liberal senator and shadow cyber security minister James Paterson, who has regularly been outspoken in his criticism of TikTok, noted that, "some organisations are persisting in their use of TikTok’s product despite the serious privacy risk to their website users."
These include Woolworths, Kmart, Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and the University of Wollongong, while the Australian Football League (AFL) failed to respond about whether they still use the pixel. Several had decided to use TikTok’s “manual advanced matching” and not their “automatic advanced matching”, which is the cause of concern.
TikTok denies any wrongdoing and said via a statement that tracking pixels are “an industry-wide tool used to improve the effectiveness of advertising services”. They also said that their pixel complies with all current Australian privacy laws and regulations, and that they rely on advertising clients to only share data through the pixel, "if they have in turn provided their customers with the necessary information and obtained the necessary permissions."
