Thread: this piece (in Chinese) contains a more detailed recap of what happened with TikTok's repeated snooping of iOS's UIPasteboard when user is typing, which it claimed was for "anti-spam". 1/8 https://twitter.com/LichtSpektrum/status/1278499841857880065

In the older version of TikTok, the app is repeatedly calling a function called textFieldDidEndEditing(_:), which tied to another action of reading UIPasteboard strings, meaning every time you pause typing, that func is called and clipboard is read. 2/n https://twitter.com/jeremyburge/status/1275832600146391042

That does not mean TikTok was reading what the user is current typing into the text box. It merely indicates that when typing, the action of "reading clipboard content" was constantly being taken. Previous research by @LFDodds show no info uploaded 3/8 https://twitter.com/LFDodds/status/1276190791002550272

Now the question is: Why would TikTok do it in the first place?

The company told media outlets that this was due to a prior anti-spam feature. But how was this anti-spam feature designed? 4/8

TikTok insiders told me this, which I sadly wasn't able to cross check with enough people to the level that satisfied me, but here it is: 5/8

When a user tries to comment on a video, the feature simply reads UIPasteboard, see if there's content in it, and return a True or False result.

If True, the feature automatically treats the comment that user is about to send as spam and lowers its ranking among comments. 6/8

That's hell of a catchall for anti-spam. It doesn't even make sense. Check and see if you can paste something out of clipboard. If you do TikTok thought you were a spammer.

Insiders said the team in charge of this feature wasn't familiar with how anti-spam should be done. 7/8

And that makes calling the wrong function and repeatedly reading clipboard just all the more embarrassing for TikTok. But I guess you fall and you learn.

end of thread 8/8