Protect your data when using TikTok

Cập nhật 3 April 2025

Read this guide to increase your privacy and security when sharing and viewing videos or when streaming content on TikTok.

Consider if relying on commercial, corporate products is secure enough to protect your information. Commercial corporations might not share your values and remove or filter content that they believe violates their policies. It may also be difficult for them to understand your local context, particularly if they do not operate in your language.

Inform yourself about TikTok's policies

Learn how TikTok uses your information

• You can find a clarification of TikTok's terms of service on Terms of Service; Didn't Read.
• Learn about TikTok's privacy policy (click the button above the title to select your region or country).
• Also review other TikTok's policies, in particular their Community Principles and Community guidelines.

Learn what TikTok will turn over to governments or law enforcement

• See TikTok's law enforcement guidelines.
• See TikTok's government removal requests reports to learn about the volume of government removal or restriction requests TikTok received and the nature of TikTok’s response.
• See TikTok's information requests reports to learn about the volume and type of requests for user information TikTok received and whether TikTok disclosed or preserved data.
• Also see TikTok's transparency center.

Create a new account

You can create a TiKToK account for free. TikTok suggests using their app to create an account, but it's a better idea to use a web browser on a computer.

• To create an account using a web browser, go to the TikTok home page, click the Login button, then click Sign up at the bottom of the form. Choose the Use phone or email option in the following form and finally choose Sign up with email to avoid using a phone number.
• If you are going to use the TikTok app, learn how to create an account directly in the app.

Decide whether you will use a real or fake name, and maintain separate accounts

• Be aware that even if you provide a fake name to TikTok, you may still be identifiable by the network you connect from and the IP address it assigns to your device, unless you use a VPN or Tor to hide this information.
• Consider using separate accounts or separate identities/pseudonyms for different campaigns and activities. You will likely want to keep your personal and work accounts separate, at the very least.
  • Read more on this strategy in our guide on multiple identity management.
• Remember that the key to using a social networking platform safely is being able to trust the people you connect with. You and the others in your network will want to know that the people behind the accounts are who they say they are, and have ways to validate this. That does not necessarily mean you have to use your real name, but it may be important to use consistent fake names.

Set up with a fresh email address

• Set up a new email address on a privacy-friendly server while using the Tor Browser or a trusted VPN.
• You can find a list of suggested privacy-friendly mail services in the communication tools section.

Don’t associate your phone number with your account

• If possible, when setting up a new account, do not enter your phone number. TikTok will allow you to set up a new account with only an email address, and that can be harder to associate with you.
  • Remove your phone number from TikTok (make sure your email address is valid so TikTok can use it to contact you, for example if you lose access to your account).

Don't allow TikTok to access your contacts

• "Skip" or dismiss TiKTok's requests to "allow access" to contacts on your device, import your contacts, connect with your Facebook friends, or find more connections when you first set up an account. You can select your contacts more carefully afterwards.
  • Turn off contact sync on TikTok.
  • Stop TikTok from recommending you profiles you may want to follow, and from recommending others to follow your profile.
• Consider only connecting to people you know and whom you trust not to misuse the information you post.
• If you need to connect to an online community of like-minded individuals whom you have never met, consider carefully what information you will share with these people.
• Do not share your employer or educational background in your bio, as social media may use this information to share your profile with others unexpectedly.

Designate someone to manage your account if you are unable to do it yourself

• TikTok does not accept requests by close family members to delete or memorialize the account of a deceased person.
• If you expect someone else may need to access your account quickly in the event of an emergency, arrange to share your login information with them using secure communication.
• If someone you know has been arrested or detained and you need to suspend their account so as to stop others from accessing their network of contacts or compromising information, you can reach out to Access Now Digital Security Helpline or Front Line Defenders to request assistance in working with TikTok to secure access to their accounts. Also read the Digital First Aid Kit troubleshooter Someone I Know Has Been Arrested for further recommendations and see the Digital First Aid Kit support page to look for help desks that may support you for specific needs.

Know how to move your data out of TikTok

• Test how to download your data from your TikTok account. Start the download process, then take a thorough look at what data it provides. Assess what has been downloaded, in what format and how you can read and use it.
  • Learn how to download your TikTok data.
  • Allow some time for this process. If you have had an account for a long time, there will be a lot of data to download, and the service may take a few days to bundle it for your download.

Protect your account

• Read TikTok's recommendations on how to keep your account secure.

Check your recovery email and phone number

• Check your recovery email and phone number.
• Change this information immediately if you lose access to your email address or phone number.

Use strong passwords

Use strong passwords to protect your accounts. Anyone who gets into your TikTok account will gain access to a lot of information about you and anyone you are connected to.

• See our guide on how to create and maintain strong passwords for more information.
• If TikTok sends you prompts to create a passkey, read our recommendations on how and when to use passkeys.

Set up 2-step verification (2SV)

• Use an authenticator app and your email for two-step verification.
• Do not use SMS if possible, as your mobile phone company has full access to these communications and these methods are easier to hack into. Note that we don't recommend associating your usual phone number with your account, especially if your official name is not already associated with your account.
• To learn how two-step verification works on TikTok, look for the section on turning on 2-step verification in the support page on account safety.

Be very careful with emails or messages claiming to be from TikTok

• Learn what to do if you think you've received a phishing message claiming to be from TikTok.
• Learn more on how to avoid phishing attempts if you have a TikTok for Business account.

Use TikTok more securely

• TikTok will require you to use its app for many activities, even to change your account settings. But if you mostly use TikTok to browse other users' profiles or to publish posts and chat with people, you can consider using a browser instead of installing the app in your mobile device.
  • If you really need to use the TikTok app, consider using a separate device from the one you normally use.
  • Alternatively, if you have an Android device, you can isolate the app in a separate profile.
• If you want to use TikTok without connecting it to your real identity, make sure to create your account through a VPN or through the Tor Browser and to never connect with your actual IP. Also make sure to create your account with an email address that you created using Tor or a VPN and to avoid adding your phone number to your profile.

Check suspicious access

Check active sessions and authorized devices, review account activity and security events

• Look at the following instructions listing which devices have recently logged in to your account (including browsers or apps). Does every login look familiar?
  • Check your security alerts in the Security & permissions section of your account settings to keep track of recent unusual security events.
  • Check your managed devices in the Security & permissions section of your account settings to view phones and other mobile devices that are currently using or have recently accessed your TikTok account. This will display all devices associated with your account. Check this information to make sure no one else has signed in to your account.
  • Note that if you are using a VPN or Tor Browser, which can conceal your location, your own device may appear as connecting from unexpected locations.
  • Learn more on how to secure your account in the Security section of the TikTok guide on privacy and security.
• If you see suspicious activity on your account, immediately change your password to a new, long, random passphrase you do not use for any other accounts. Save this in your password manager.

If you think your account has been hacked

• Reset your password and remove suspicious devices, as suggested by TikTok.
• If you can't log in or reset your password, you can try recovering your account by requesting verification from friends you are connected with on TikTok.

Decide what information to share

• Consider making your account private.
• You can also restrict the visibility of your posts individually by changing your video settings to select a specific audience.

Consider what information you should avoid sharing

Information that should never be shared with others on social media, even via direct messages (DM), may be, for example:

• Passwords
• Personally identifying information, including:
  • your birthday,
  • your phone number (does it appear in screenshots of communications?),
  • government or other ID numbers,
  • medical records,
  • education and employment history (these can be used by untrustworthy people who want to gain your confidence.)
• Information that may lead to understand where you live, for example a video shot in your house or in front of it.

Information that you might not want to post on social media, depending on your assessment of the threats you are facing, is, for example, details about family members, information on your sexual orientation or activities and your email address (at least consider having more and less sensitive email accounts).

• Even if you trust the people in your networks, remember it is easy for someone to copy your information and spread it more widely than you want it to be.
• Agree with your network on what you do and do not want shared, for safety reasons.
• Think about what you may be revealing about your friends that they may not want other people to know; be sensitive about this, and ask them to be sensitive regarding what they reveal on you.

Don’t share your location

• Learn how location works on TikTok.
• Turn location services off.
• Delete data that TikTok received directly from your location services.

Share videos more safely

• Consider what is visible in videos you post. Never post videos that include:
  • your vehicle license plates,
  • IDs, credit cards or financial information,
  • images of keys (it is possible to duplicate a key from an image.)
• Think hard before you post videos that include or make it possible to identify:
  • your friends, colleagues and loved ones (ask permission before posting),
  • your home, your office or other locations where you often spend time,
  • if you are hiding your location, other identifiable locations in the background (buildings, trees, natural landscape features, etc.).
• If you're only posting private videos, consider making your account private.
• Remove metadata before you post videos that you shot outside of the TikTok app.

Change who can see when you "like" things

• Your liked videos are hidden from your profile by default, but this setting can be changed. Make sure your liked videos are set to be visible only to you.

Decide who can see what

Share to select people

• Remove an unwanted follower (they will not be notified). Also consider blocking them.
• Consider making your account private.

Manage who can reply to what you post

• Choose who can comment on your videos - select "No one" to turn off comments on all your existing videos.
• You can also turn comments off for specific videos.
• Filter comments for all your videos - comments on your videos will be hidden unless you approve them.
• Delete one or more comments.

Think about who you connect with

• Unfollow people.
• Remove someone from your follower list.

Control mentions and hashtags

• Control who you'd like to allow to mention you. You can choose Everyone, People you follow, Friends (followers you follow back), or No one.
• Report a hashtag you consider inappropriate.

Limit who can contact you

• Learn how to control direct messages.
• Choose who can send you direct messages.
• You can also filter, hide and report direct messages, as well as block someone from sending you a DM.

Manage advertising

• Learn how ads personalization works on TikTok.
• Turn off the Personalized ads setting.

Leave no trace

Precautions when using a public or shared device

• Avoid logging in to your TikTok account from shared devices (like an internet cafe or other people's devices).
• Never save your passwords and delete your browsing history when you use a web browser on a public machine. Change the passwords of any accounts you accessed from shared devices as soon as you can, using your own device.

Disable and clear your watch and search history

• Turn off your post view history.
• Turn off your profile view history.
• Delete your watch history.
• Delete your search history: tap your Profile icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen, select the three-line icon in the top-right corner and tap on Settings and privacy > Activity center. Tap Search history, then tap select, tap the searches you would like to delete, then tap delete. You can also delete all your searches at once.

Handle abuse

This section explains how to ask TikTok for assistance in situations of abuse, harassment, attacks and impersonation. If you are a human rights defender, journalist or activist at risk and TikTok is not assisting you effectively, you can reach out to Access Now Digital Security Helpline or Front Line Defenders to request assistance in working with TikTok. Also see the Digital First Aid Kit support page to look for help desks that may support you for specific needs.

Report abuse

• Learn how reporting works on TikTok.
• Report a problem on TikTok.

Learn what you can do to prevent hate speech or trolling

• Learn how to counter hate speech on TikTok.

Report harassment that reveals information about you

• Report a privacy violation.

Identify and report coordinated inauthentic activity (botnets and spam)

• Learn about TikTok's policy on spam and deceptive behavior.
• Read more on how TikTok counters deceptive behaviour.

Report impersonation

• Learn how to report an impersonation account on TikTok.

Hide stressful content

• Learn how to limit unwanted content on TikTok.
• Turn on Restricted mode to limit exposure to content that you may find uncomfortable.
• Read TikTok's well-being guide to learn how to assess your digital well-being, reflect on screen time, use TikTok's well-being tools and support people in distress.

Learn how to recover your disabled account or channel and how to restore a removed video

• Submit an appeal to recover a banned account.
• Appeal an incorrect removal of content.

Take a break from your account

• Temporarily deactivate your account. Your videos, profile and direct messages will no longer be visible. This can be an option if you want to take a break, for example because your channel is being targeted by a harassment campaign.