TikTok Silhouette Challenge

Interhack founder C. Matthew Curtin discusses the TikTok Silhouette Challenge with 10TV (Columbus) Angela Reighard.

10TV is investigating concerns raised in connection with the TikTok Silhouette Challenge, an exercise that is meant to empower people to feel good about their bodies. View the interview: https://www.10tv.com/article/news/tik-tok-silhouette-challenge-privacy-concerns/530-c6f3c294-3c51-4be8-a90b-2f0eed4fcaf1.

Here’s how it works. Users create James Bond-style silhouette pictures of themselves by uploading images of themselves and adding filters. However, since the content isn’t controlled by the person uploading the image, predators can easily remove the layers of filters in order to expose the actual image of the person underneath.

See: https://nypost.com/2021/02/02/tiktok-users-warned-about-silhouette-challenges-potential-dangers/

A few concerns Curtin raises regarding social media in general:

  1. The temptation to use social media to feel connected might be strong while people are isolating during a pandemic. Social media companies are actively exploiting those feelings to make money from your data, your communications, and your interactions.
  2. Social media challenges are most always a bad idea because the content can be altered. Protect yourself by being aware of the dangers, foreseeing how what someone is trying to get you to do can go badly if the people behind it are bad, greedy, or lacking ethical standards. ProtonMail's Privacy Blog points out concerns including ties between TikTok and the Chinese Communist Party. See: https://protonmail.com/blog/tiktok-privacy/

About Interhack

Columbus-based Interhack is a pioneer in Internet privacy and security. The firm today helps organizations to understand how their technology and operations affect their security and the privacy of the people to whose information they're entrusted. Interhack is online at web.interhack.com.

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