TikTok will soon make personalized ads mandatory, meaning you’ll start getting ads in the app based on the kind of content you engage with, whether you want them or not.
As things stand right now, the app includes an option that allows you to only see general messages from advertisers. That’s changing next month. Starting on April 15th, “your settings will change and the ads you’ll see may start to be based on what you do on TikTok,” the company says in notice.
That’s a stance that will put TikTok in line with many other social media apps, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. That said, you’ll still have the option to stop it from tracking your activity across other websites and apps and thereby using that information to further personalize the ads it shows you.
The change is likely related to Apple’s upcoming rollout of iOS 14, which will require developers to get users’ permission to track their data across apps for targeted advertising. Any apps that don’t request permission will risk suspension or removal from the App Store. Making personalized ads mandatory allows TikTok to target advertising to some extent as more people opt out of cross-app tracking.
