First- and third-party cookies personalise ads from your browsing, profile and off-app activity
The Platform uses first-party and third-party cookies for advertising. This includes personalising ads based on your browsing habits, your profile and your off-app activity, which the policy qualifies with “depending on your settings”. One example is the first-party “ttp” cookie, used to show you personalised ads from an advertiser if you have visited that advertiser’s website or app before; it has a retention period of 1 year. The settings that affect ad personalisation are described in the section on controlling cookies (Personalised Ads settings for logged-in account holders and device settings for mobile advertising identifiers).
Details
Condition
depending on your settings
What it covers
your browsing habits, profile and off-app activity
Why
show personalised ads from an advertiser whose website or app you visited before
When
ttp retained for 1 year
Supporting quotations
Our Platform uses first-party and third-party cookies for advertising purposes. This includes personalising ads (depending on your settings) based on your browsing habits and profile and your off-app activity.
Examples of the advertising and measurement cookies include cookies:
To show you personalised ads from an advertiser if you have visited their website or app before. For example, we use the “ttp” first-party cookie for these purposes and it has a retention period of 1 year.
Qualifications & exceptions
Personalisation applies “depending on your settings”; this passage does not say which settings or what the default is.
Not stated here
How off-app activity reaches TikTok is not described in this passage.
The default ad-personalisation setting is not stated.
Cookies are used to advertise TikTok on third-party platforms to past website visitors (e.g. fbp)
TikTok uses advertising cookies to serve ads about TikTok itself on third-party platforms. This includes remarketing TikTok to people who visited TikTok’s website and measuring the performance of TikTok’s own ad campaigns. The example given is the third-party “fbp” cookie, with a retention period of 3 months. The policy does not name the third-party platforms or say what information they receive.
Details
Why
serve ads about TikTok on third-party platforms; remarket TikTok to people who visited its website; measure TikTok’s ad campaigns
When
fbp retained for 3 months
Supporting quotations
To serve ads about TikTok on third-party platforms. This includes remarketing TikTok to people who visited our website and measuring our ad campaigns’ performance. For example, the “fbp” third-party cookie which has a retention period of 3 months.
Qualifications & exceptions
“fbp” is given as an example; other cookies may serve the same purpose.
Not stated here
The third-party platforms and the information they receive are not named in this policy.
Linking & Identification · Company practice
Ad measurement tracks actions after ads, like advertiser site visits or purchases, incl. via IDFA and GAID
TikTok also uses cookies to measure how ads perform on the Platform. This includes tracking what users do in response to ads, for example visits to an advertiser’s website or purchases. The third-party advertising identifiers “IDFA” and “GAID” are used both for ad measurement and for personalising ads. Because the policy’s definition of “cookies” includes mobile ad IDs, this covers app activity, not only browser cookies. The section on controlling cookies describes Apple and Android device settings for mobile advertising identifiers.
Details
Why
measure the performance of ads on the Platform
What it covers
user actions in response to ads, such as visits to an advertiser’s website or purchases
What it covers
third-party advertising identifiers IDFA and GAID, used for ad measurement and personalising ads
Supporting quotations
We also use cookies to measure our ads’ performance on the Platform.
To measure the performance of ads on our Platform. This includes tracking user actions in response to ads. For example, this includes visits to an advertiser’s website or purchases. For example, the third-party advertising identifiers “IDFA” and “GAID” are used for ad measurement and personalising ads.
Qualifications & exceptions
Visits and purchases are examples of tracked actions; the list is not closed.
Not stated here
Where the tracked purchases take place (on the Platform or on advertisers’ sites) is not specified beyond the example.
Logged-in account holders can manage how their information affects certain ads they see on the Platform
TikTok says you can control how it uses data from cookies to show you ads through the settings it then describes. If you have a TikTok account and are logged in, you can manage how your information affects certain ads you see on the Platform, through a page linked from the policy. The policy says you can do this by following instructions, but no instructions follow in the saved text; the next item is the app (device) settings. This control requires an account and being logged in, and it covers “certain ads”, not all ads.
Details
What it does
control how TikTok uses data from cookies to show you ads
Condition
you have a TikTok account and are logged in
What it covers
how your information affects certain ads you see on the Platform
Supporting quotations
You can control how we use data from cookies to show you ads by using the settings described below.
Device settings on Apple and Android let you limit tracking or opt out of ads personalisation
You can also use your device settings to control your mobile advertising identifiers. On Apple devices, for iOS versions older than iOS 14 you can turn on the “Limit Ad Tracking” setting; for iOS 14 or newer you can limit third-party tracking in your device settings. On Android devices you can turn on “Opt out of Ads Personalisation”. These are settings on your device, not TikTok settings; the policy presents them as a way to control your identifiers and does not say more about how TikTok responds to them.
Details
What it covers
your mobile advertising identifiers
Condition
Apple: “Limit Ad Tracking” before iOS 14; limit third-party tracking on iOS 14 or newer
Condition
Android: “Opt out of Ads Personalisation”
Supporting quotations
You can also tailor your device settings to control your mobile advertising identifiers:
On Apple devices: For iOS versions older than iOS 14, you can turn on the “Limit Ad Tracking” setting in your device settings. For iOS 14 or newer, you can limit third-party tracking in your device settings.
On Android devices, you can turn on the “Opt out of Ads Personalisation” in your device.
Qualifications & exceptions
The Apple option depends on the iOS version (older than iOS 14, or iOS 14 or newer).
Not stated here
What TikTok does differently when these device settings are on is not described.