Earlier last week, TikTok – along with a whole list of other apps – was cast into the spotlight when its app was called out by Apple’s iOS 14 for allegedly recording consumer’s input and keystrokes via the OS’ Clipboard. On that note, LinkedIn is yet another company whose app was recently caught red-handed doing the same thing.
The social media platform designed for professional was caught by one user, known on Twitter as Donfromurspace.io (@DonCubed), who recorded the app actively “clipboarding” the text input on his iPad Pro via the clipboard of his MacBook Pro.
LinkedIn is copying the contents of my clipboard every keystroke. IOS 14 allows users to see each paste notification.
I’m on an IPad Pro and it’s copying from the clipboard of my MacBook Pro.
Tik tok just got called out for this exact reason. pic.twitter.com/l6NIT8ixEF
— d (@m0nald) July 2, 2020
Surprisingly, LinkedIn was relatively quick to respond to its app’s actions. But where ByteDance, the creator of TikTok, had said that its app’s clipboarding actions were a feature that would “benefit” users. LinkedIn said the same action was a bug caused by bad coding, and not a feature. To that end, the social media platform said that it was not storing or transmitting content recorded on iOS’ clipboard.
At this stage, it’s a little difficult to LinkedIn’s statement about its app’s action merely being a case of shoddy coding. From where we’re standing, it’s clear that had iOS 14 not come with its new Clipboard monitoring feature, many developers and their apps would’ve undoubtedly continued their actions in taking note of its consumer’s personal input and data.
(Source: ZDNet, Hot Hardware)
