TikTok’s Strict Data Rules Are Keeping Researchers From Studying the App
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As TikTok gets more popular, researchers at leading academic institutions want to study what users are doing there. Publicly, the company says it's open to this, and is partnering with academics. But researchers said so far, the video app's rules about data are too burdensome.
TikTok is in the process of making its application programming interface, or API, open to researchers to analyze data on the platform. But the terms of service are so strict, academics at leading institutions say they're hesitant to accept them. The difficulty in researchingTikTok comes as competing platforms also are making it more difficult to review their data and are starting to charge for access to their APIs.
Social scientists say it's important to gain access to TikTok to understand the app's impact...