TikTok Lite, a low-bandwidth version of the video platform popular in Africa, Asia and Latin America, is exposing users to harmful content due to a lack of security features compared to the full version of the app, according to a new report from Mozilla.
Researchers say TikTok LiteSaveData lacks "active controls at the user's disposal," such as the ability to filter offensive content and unwanted keywords, as well as tools to help reduce app addiction (screen time and other controls have been rolled out to the main app). They also found that TikTok Lite did not provide warning labels or banners for content that could cause harm, such as dangerous prank videos or "challenges," election misinformation and artificial intelligence-generated content.
TikTok refuted the findings, saying "there are several factual inaccuracies in this report that fundamentally misrepresent our security practices. In fact, content that violates our rules is removed from TikTok Lite just like our main app, and we provide a number of security features that we would have explained had Mozilla asked us before publishing the report."
Mozilla said it submitted evidence to TikTok, but TikTok declined to respond.
"So far, they (TikTok) have not refuted any of the evidence presented," said Odanga Madung, the Mozilla researcher who led the investigation.
The report highlights a stark difference in the way the world's largest technology companies operate. In developed markets such as the United States and Europe, these companies face increasing regulatory scrutiny, but this is not the case in emerging markets where regulators have fewer oversight.
Case in point: TikTok suspended the gaming feature in the TikTok Lite version launched in Europe earlier this year because EU regulators determined the feature was addictive and harmful to the human body. The "save data" version launched in emerging markets did not encounter a similar response.
Madung said: "TikTok's Lite app is a security risk to its more than one billion users. It is the equivalent of removing seat belts and airbags from cars and selling them to unsuspecting users. TikTok appears to have sacrificed safety features in the Lite app" to reduce the bandwidth required by the app. "
Like the "lite" versions of Facebook, Instagram, and X, the Android-only TikTok Lite is unavailable in the United States and most of Europe. TikTok Lite is aimed at users in emerging markets, where mobile data can be prohibitively expensive, most phones can be rudimentary, and network coverage can be patchy. Since its launch in 2018, it has become popular in countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America and has been downloaded more than 1 billion times, according to SensorTower.
Researchers found that the Lite app's lack of safety features violated TikTok's own "risky behavior and activities" policy, which states that the company does not allow "the display or promotion of dangerous activities and challenges."
Researchers say TikTok's lack of user protection is intentional because security guardrails can be integrated without increasing its size.
"The security features TikTok Lite lacks are uncomplicated and fully compatible with low-bandwidth applications," said Claudio Agosti, co-founder of AIForensics, which collaborated with Mozilla on the research. "TikTok's decision to ignore these security measures was clearly a choice, not a technical necessity."