TikTok
Social Media · tiktok.com
9 out of 20 Compliance-bound
The only brand in the index that never asks before it starts collecting, and a way out that is genuinely straightforward without being remarkable.
How many clicks to find the privacy policy from the homepage?
Two clicks, from the sidebar. “Terms & Policies” in the persistent left sidebar leads to the Privacy Policy, which opens as a navigable web page with section navigation, a last-updated date, and the Canadian version selected automatically. Infinite scroll means there is no traditional footer, and the sidebar does that job.
Is there a meaningful choice about cookies and tracking before data is collected?
Nothing. No banner, no notice, no opt-out. Content serves immediately on first load and collection begins with it. The only zero on any dimension in the index. This is not a dark pattern, which would at least imply a pattern; it is the absence of the gate entirely.
How hard is the policy to read, how much of it is there, and can you get it in one piece?
Grade 12.3 across 8,630 words, in one place. Difficulty 2, length 1, access 4. One of the two longest policies measured here, in a single navigable page. Measure it yourself.
How many clicks to reach data settings, and can you delete your account yourself?
Self-serve deletion in four clicks, and no one to ask permission from. One click from the home screen to your profile, then three more to delete the account, counted the way Facebook’s six and LinkedIn’s three are counted here. The path is clear, nothing is hidden behind a support ticket, and it is meaningfully better than Facebook’s. Four clicks still sits at the top of the middle band rather than the exceptional one.
Find the support page. How many clicks, and is there a way to speak to a human?
Help in two clicks, and no human behind it. A standard FAQ and topic-based support page. No phone, no email, no live chat.
Overall finding
9 out of 20 Compliance-bound
TikTok is still the only brand here that collects before it asks, and that remains the thing to know about it. What has changed is the sentence that used to follow. Deletion was first recorded as the most accessible in the index; counted the way every other brand is counted, from the home screen rather than from the profile page, it is four clicks. That is a good route, better than Facebook’s six, and an unremarkable one. The contradiction is duller than it first appeared: not a company that removed the gate and built a superb lever, just one that removed the gate.
Revised 7 August 2026
Scored 12 until 6 August 2026, then 11. Now 9. Control moved from 4 to 2: deletion is four clicks from the home screen, one to the profile and three from there, where the April note recorded “two to three” by starting the count at the profile page. Facebook’s six clicks and LinkedIn’s three are both counted from the home screen, so TikTok is now counted the same way. Nothing about TikTok has been shown to change; the count was inconsistent with the rest of the index. Clarity separately moved from 3 to 2 on 6 August when it was remeasured with the published tool. Both changes matter beyond the table: Behind the Scores and the Facebook and TikTok essay were built on TikTok scoring 4 on Control and on the two brands tying at 12. Neither holds. Those pages carry the argument as it was published, with the correction dated rather than written over.
- Scored
- 12 April 2026
- Revised
- 6 August 2026
- Region
- Canadian site, private window
- Session
- Logged out, except Control
Scored from public evidence only. No company can pay to change a score, and paid relationships are disclosed here. Read the independence statement.