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by doc_gunthrop 1359 days ago
Plenty of comments here talking about using uBlock [Origin], piHole, disabling JS, and so on, but it doesn't look like anybody has bothered to ask specifically how TikTok is actually doing the tracking. And TFA doesn't explain the method(s) in any technical detail.

I visited several of the sites mentioned in TFA, and uBlock didn't show any connection requests being made to any tiktok-related URLs. Nor were there any unfamiliar websites commonly shared amongst these sites in case TikTok was using a proxy service to hide behind.
1 comments
aembleton 1359 days ago
I just tried the United Methodist Church website [1] after disabling UBo and accepting cookies. It then GETs an events JS file from tiktok.com, which runs and GETs a main JS file from tiktok.com that then makes a POST request to tiktok.com containing my device, page url, referrer, session ID, useragent and timestamp.

If you are running uBlock then you are probably blocking google tag manager that initiates these calls.

1. https://www.umc.org/

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doc_gunthrop 1358 days ago
Thanks for this. I hadn't considered googletagmanager.com but that appears to be the likely culprit as it is the common denominator between these sites.
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