Insurance companypharmacy, electricity company – and now an anti-bullying organization. The companies that have accidentally sent sensitive data about their users and customers to social media giants are starting to feel more like the rule than the exception. This time it is Friends who accidentally let a so-called tracking pixel send data on to third parties. And this time it is the Chinese Tiktok that has received it.
The disclosure comes from Sveriges Radio Ecot, who themselves tried to fill in a form on Friends’ website, intended for children and young people (and adults) to create contact with the organization. Email addresses and phone numbers have then, via a tracking tool, been passed on to Tiktok. However, the social media platform has not been able to read any content from messages or the like, but has in theory been able to see when the form was filled in and which email address did it.
According to Ekot, it is mainly adults who have had their e-mail addresses disclosed, but eleven of them are children. Friends regrets the mistake, which the organization says includes 3,700 people’s contact information. According to Tiktok, the information about children is what it is not get shared with them.
The actual connection between Friends and Tiktok is perhaps not particularly far-fetched because the organization wants to be able to reach children and young people wherever they are online, but connecting the tracking pixel to the form was a pure mistake. Friends have registered themselves with the Swedish Privacy Protection Authority, IMY.
