But when you click a link in the TikTok app, TikTok opens an in-app browser for you to view it in - and that’s where it’s gathering all the information. It’s a deceptive practice, since most users won’t realize that they’re not simply surfing a website as usual.
Not only that, but per the article, TikTok is the only popular app that does this while not providing an option to open the link in regular browser from within the built-in one.
Did you just wake up today after reading this article and learned about the existence of in-app browsers? This is a common practice by almost all social media apps.