TikTok has been outed as an app that captures massive amounts of telemetry data that could be used to identify a user after the fact. The data it collects (contact lists) absolutely could be used for targeted oppression.
What do you mean by “identify a user”? Isn’t the fact that you’re filming videos of yourself “identifying yourself” more so than whatever device data TikTok and every other app on your phone is capturing?
Tiktok doesn't require that a user film themselves. If they never appear in frame, there would still be plenty of other data captured from the device to correlate to a specific human.
Ok sure...but the main use case is filming yourself. It would seem really strange for anyone who chooses to publicly post videos on that app to be worried about TikTok being able to identify people or things in the app, or capture data associated with your phone or email you use to sign up with.
Think back to any round of recent protests. People are passionate about their positions...they post about it on their chosen social media platform being completely unaware of the technical consequences. Later on, they "disappear" (wordage chosen because that's what happens to dissidents in China).
The point is that tons of people have no idea how to protect their own privacy. We can still advocate for protections in the same way we have warning labels on harsh cleaning chemicals.