Consumer Rights Wiki - User contributions [en]

TikTok

2026-02-23T17:16:42Z

Box: Running GenAI Ads without permission

{{Stub}}
{{ProductCargo
|Company=[[ByteDance]]
|ReleaseYear=2016
|InProduction=Yes
|ArticleType=Service
|Category=Social media
|Logo=Tiktok PNG1-1180843710.png
|Website=https://tiktok.com
|Description=Social media platform famous for popularizing short-form content.
}}

[[wikipedia:TikTok|TikTok]] is a social media platform developed by the Chinese internet technology company [[ByteDance|ByteDance Ltd]]. The app has been cited with numerous privacy concerns that eventually led to a US state ban in May 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Archie |first=Ayana |date=May 18, 2023 |title=Montana becomes the first state to ban TikTok |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/05/18/1176805559/montana-tiktok-ban |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518073749/https://www.npr.org/2023/05/18/1176805559/montana-tiktok-ban |archive-date=18 May 2023 |access-date=Aug 13, 2025 |website=NPR}}</ref>

==Consumer impact summary==
{{Ph-C-CIS}}

===User freedom===
*The app version requires an account to use the service.

===User privacy===
As per Privacy Policy:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Privacy Policy |url=https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/row/privacy-policy/en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250816013219/https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/row/privacy-policy/en |archive-date=16 Aug 2025 |access-date=14 Aug 2025 |website=TikTok}}</ref>
*Automatically collects unreasonable heaps of information to [[Device fingerprint|fingerprint]] the user:
<blockquote>
:'''Technical Information we collect about you.''' We collect certain information about the device you use to access the Platform, such as your IP address, user agent, mobile carrier, time zone settings, identifiers for advertising purposes, model of your device, the device system, network type, your screen resolution and operating system, app and file names and types, keystroke patterns or rhythms, battery state, audio settings and connected audio devices.
</blockquote>
:*"Keystroke patterns or rhythms" is particularly notable as the in-app browser has been demonstrated to listen to inputs from keyboard and screen, as well as injecting JavaScript code.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Krause |first=Felix |date=18 Aug 2022 |title=iOS Privacy: Announcing InAppBrowser.com - see what JavaScript commands get injected through an in-app browser |url=https://krausefx.com/blog/announcing-inappbrowsercom-see-what-javascript-commands-get-executed-in-an-in-app-browser#tiktok |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818205812/https://krausefx.com/blog/announcing-inappbrowsercom-see-what-javascript-commands-get-executed-in-an-in-app-browser#tiktok |archive-date=18 Aug 2022 |access-date=14 Aug 2025 |quote=While you are interacting with the website, TikTok subscribes to all keyboard inputs (including passwords, credit card information, etc.) and every tap on the screen, like which buttons and links you click.}}</ref>
*Also collects approximate location based on "SIM card and/or IP address" and precise location such as GPS.
*Serves personalized advertisements and runs its own [[TikTok and AI-powered ad tracking|AI-powered analytics tool for advertisers]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sato |first=Mia |date=3 Jun 2025 |title=TikTok will give advertisers even more data on trends and users |url=https://www.theverge.com/news/678255/tiktok-advertiser-summit-ai-targeting-data-seo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250603164513/https://www.theverge.com/news/678255/tiktok-advertiser-summit-ai-targeting-data-seo |archive-date=3 Jun 2025 |access-date=25 Jun 2025 |website=The Verge}}</ref>
Extensive List of Data Collected and Downloadable by the User in the Section "Downloadable and Collected Data"

==Incidents==
{{Ph-C-Inc}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Incident
!Year
!Background Info
!Aftermath
!Related Article
!Related Video
|-
|Violations of Children's Privacy Laws
|2019-current
|In 2019, the US Department of Justice sued TikTok and parent company [[ByteDance]] as well as it's associated companies for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act ([https://www.coppa.org/coppa/ COPPA]). The companies knowingly allowed children under 13 to make accounts and unlawfully collected data and personal information of said children without parental consent.<ref name="DOJ-COPPA">{{Cite web |date=2024-08-02 |title=Justice Department Sues TikTok and Parent Company ByteDance for Widespread Violations of Children’s Privacy Laws |url=https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-tiktok-and-parent-company-bytedance-widespread-violations-childrens |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250209191215/https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-tiktok-and-parent-company-bytedance-widespread-violations-childrens |archive-date=9 Feb 2025 |website=Justice.gov}}</ref>
|TikTok, as of 2020, still has complains about allegedly still collecting and using personal data of children under 13.
|https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/08/ftc-investigation-leads-lawsuit-against-tiktok-bytedance-flagrantly-violating-childrens-privacy-law
|
|-
|Suppressing "ugly", poor, or disabled creators
|2020-present
|[https://theintercept.com/ The Intercept] published a report in 2020 stating that obtained internal documents from TikTok instructed moderators to limit the amount of videos with people who have "ugly facial looks". "abnormal body shape", or are in poor or dirty environments. The documents claim that these types of videos are "not the ideal video form of our platform"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Biddle1 Ribero2 Dias3 |first=Sam1 Paulo Victor2 Tatiana3 |date=2020-03-16 |title=Invisible Censorship |url=https://theintercept.com/2020/03/16/tiktok-app-moderators-users-discrimination/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200316045931/https://theintercept.com/2020/03/16/tiktok-app-moderators-users-discrimination/ |archive-date=16 Mar 2020 |website=The Intercept}}</ref>
|A TikTok spokesperson stated that the guidelines were “an early blunt attempt at preventing bullying but are no longer in place"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Itimu |first=Kiruti |date=2020-03-17 |title=TikTok Apparently Suppressed Content From Ugly or Poor People |url=https://techweez.com/2020/03/17/tiktok-apparently-suppresses-content-from-ugly-and-poor-people/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204021629/https://techweez.com/2020/03/17/tiktok-apparently-suppresses-content-from-ugly-and-poor-people/ |archive-date=4 Dec 2020 |website=Techweez}}</ref>
|[https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6810010/pages/Ugly-Content-Policy-p1-large.gif The documents themselves]
|
|-
|Censorship of content talking negatively Donald Trump's government, ICE or related and update of privacy policy
|2026-present
|On January, 2026, TikTok's ownership was transferred to [[Oracle]]. After this transference, the privacy policy was updated. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Rogers |first=Reece |date=23 Jan 2026 |title=TikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users. Here Are the 3 Biggest Changes |url=https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-new-privacy-policy/ |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260222090442/https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-new-privacy-policy/ |archive-date=22 Feb 2026|access-date=28 Jan 2026 |website=Wired}}</ref> Several users have reported their content that is against Donald Trump or ICE, or anything related ends shadowbanned or flagged "to be reviewed". <ref>{{Cite web |last=Collier |first=Kevin |last2=Horvath |first2=Bruna |date=26 Jan 2026 |title=TikTok censorship claims spark California probe of app's handling of anti-Trump content |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/tiktok-fixed-power-outage-not-censorship-work-views-down-rcna255964 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260219181336/https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/tiktok-fixed-power-outage-not-censorship-work-views-down-rcna255964 |archive-date=19 Feb 2026|access-date=28 Jan 2026 |website=NBC News}}</ref>
|
|
|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktze-X2rG4E
|-
|Running GenAI Ads without permission
|2026-present
|On February 5, 2026, Rebekah Saltsman, CEO & co-founder of Finji, a game publisher known for titles such as Tunic and Night in the Woods, made a post on Bluesky asking people to send screencaps of "Finji ads that look distinctly UN-Finji-like".<ref>https://bsky.app/profile/bexsaltsman.bsky.social/post/3me4ybayhf226</ref> Saltsman explained how platforms were running AI versions of paid ads without the knowledge or consent of the company paying for the ads. Saltsman also explained that the company who paid for the ads has no way of seeing the AI versions of those despite the audience seeing them.
An IGN article would later come out where Saltsman detailed how TikTok was running ads that were modified to be sexualized despite Finji having all AI features turned off. Saltsman stated how Finji has no way to view, edit or disable the AI generated ads and that the only way they were made aware of the issue was through audience members.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Valentine |first=Rebekah |date=February 20, 2026 11:04am EST |title=Tunic, Night in the Woods Publisher Says TikTok Is Creating and Running Racist GenAI Ads for Its Games Without Permission |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/tunic-night-in-the-woods-publisher-says-tiktok-is-creating-and-running-racist-genai-ads-for-its-games-without-permission |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260222020940/https://www.ign.com/articles/tunic-night-in-the-woods-publisher-says-tiktok-is-creating-and-running-racist-genai-ads-for-its-games-without-permission |archive-date=February 22, 2026 |access-date=February 23, 2026 |work=IGN}}</ref>
|
|https://www.ign.com/articles/tunic-night-in-the-woods-publisher-says-tiktok-is-creating-and-running-racist-genai-ads-for-its-games-without-permission
|
|}

===GDPR infringement Article Article 13(1)(f) & Article 46(1) GDPR (''May. 2025'')===
On May 2, 2025 the Irish Supervisory Authority fines TikTok a total of €530 million for infringement of Articles 13(1)(f) GDPR and Article 46(1) GDPR. The Irish Supervisory Authority (SA) has ordered TikTok to suspend the transfer of data from users in the EEA to the People’s Republic of China and to bring its processing operations into compliance with Chapter V of the GDPR within a period of 6 months.<ref>Irish Supervisory Authority fines TikTok €530 million and orders corrective measures following Inquiry into transfers of EEA User Data to China (2025, Jul, 04). edpb.europa.eu. Retrieved Aug 16, 2025, from https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/news/2025/irish-supervisory-authority-fines-tiktok-eu530-million-and-orders-corrective_en ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260205062500/https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/news/2025/irish-supervisory-authority-fines-tiktok-eu530-million-and-orders-corrective_en Archived])</ref>

On Friday, August 2, 2024, the US sued TikTok, and its affiliates for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), and it's rules. The DOJ alleges TikTok collected, stored, and processed large amounts of data from millions of child users on its app.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Nicole |date=5 Aug 2024 |title=U.S. Sues TikTok for Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Violations |url=https://www.hunton.com/hunton-retail-law-resource/u-s-sues-tiktok-for-childrens-online-privacy-protection-act-coppa-violations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250814135309/https://www.hunton.com/hunton-retail-law-resource/u-s-sues-tiktok-for-childrens-online-privacy-protection-act-coppa-violations |archive-date=14 Aug 2025}}</ref>

==Downloadable and Collected Data==
From the downloadable data from the hamburger menu in the account tab > "Settings and Privacy" > "Account" > "Download your data" and selecting "TXT" file format the data collected, the provided data, as formatted at a directory level, includes:

*Your activity:
**Activity Summary (Videos Shared/Watched/Commented On)
**Ad Interests (Catagories of Ads selected as "Interested")
**Donations
**Fundraisers
**Hashtags (Used in public videos)
**Instant Form Ads Responses (Details inputted on forms on the bottom of some ads)
**Login History (Date, Time, IP, Device Model, Device System (OS), Network Type (Wi-Fi or Cellular), Carrier when opening app)'''*'''
**Most Recent Location Data (GPS Location, Local Time and Region, if 'Location' permission enabled)'''*'''
**Off TikTok Activity (Partner Apps Opened (e.g. eBay, Spotify, W3W)
**Purchaces (LIVE Gifts Given/Recieved)
**Searches (Timestamped Search History)
**Share History (Videos Shared Off-App)
**Status (App Version, Screen Resolution, Advertising ID and Device ID)'''*'''
**Watch History (Timestamped Watch History)
*Profile and Settings
**AI-Moji (Unsure)
**Autofill (Autofill of Instant Form Ads prompts with personal info)
**Block List (Time stamped list of users blocked)
**Follower (Time stamped list of who has followed you, including users with private following lists)
**Following (Time stamped list of who you have followed)
**Profile Information (Profile Photo, Profile Video, Username, Phone No., Email, Bio, Birthday, Gender, Likes Recieved, 3rd Party App connections (e.g. Google)
**Settings (User-Readable Config File of TikTok account settings)
*TikTok LIVE
**Go LIVE History
**Go LIVE Settings
**Watch LIVE History
**Watch LIVE Settings
*TikTok Shop
**Product Browsing History (Timestamped history of viewed items, and what shop sells the item)
**Product Reviews
**Return and Refunds History
**Saved Address Information
**Shopping Cart List
**Vouchers (Timestamps of vouchers offered/used)
**Communication With Shops (DMs to shops from the "Message Seller" option in TikTok Shop)
**Current Payment Information (Censored Debit/Credit Card Details linked to TikTok Shop Account)
**Customer Support History
**Order Dispute History
**Order History
*Comments (Every Comment ever left on ANY video)
*Direct Messages (Every DM sent either way)
*Income+ Wallet (Creator Rewards Wallet)
*Likes and Favourites
**Favourite:
***Effects
***Hashtags
***Sounds
***Videos
**Like List (Every Video Liked)
*Location Reviews
*Posts
**Posts (Every Posted Video with sound, settings and timestamp)
**Recently Deleted Posts

'''*Collected on App Open'''

==See also==
*[[ByteDance]]
*[[TikTok and AI-powered ad tracking]]
*[[TikTok's Privacy Policy change and increased censorship for US users]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:TikTok| ]]
[[Category:Social media companies]]

Category:LastPass

2025-11-09T06:07:52Z

Box: Category Software

[[Category:Password managers]]
[[Category:Software]]

User:Box

2025-11-02T04:28:58Z

Box: Created page with "Think outside the Box"

Think outside the Box

LastPass

2025-11-02T04:16:30Z

Box: Information about crypto theft

{{ProductCargo
|ReleaseYear=2008
|InProduction=Yes
|ArticleType=Service
|Category=Password Managers, Browser extension, Software, Security
|Logo=LastPass logo.png
|Website=https://www.lastpass.com/
|Description=LastPass is a password manager application that allows users to store passwords and notes securely using one master password.
}}
'''LastPass''' is a password manager application that allows users to store passwords and notes securely using one master password. It was launched in 2008 and was one of the first widely adopted password managers.

In 2015 LastPass was acquired by GoTo (formerly LogMeIn Inc) for $110 million. LastPass was later spun off into it's own company being acquired by private equity firms Francisco Partners and Elliott Management in 2024.<ref>https://www.lastpass.com/company/newsroom/b948ad48-3268-4c9e-8b45-0d6d02d0b4e7</ref>

==Consumer-impact summary==
LastPass, being a password manager, stores and transmits highly sensitive information (passwords and secure notes). LastPass relies on it's users trusting it to safely handle this information and have it be accessible.

Use of a subscription service for more device types allows LastPass to restrict where users can view their passwords.

LastPass has suffered a number of security incidents over the years with the most severe being the 2022 data breach which saw encrypted customer passwords and secret notes get exposed. Despite the most sensitive information being encrypted, the vault can be decrypted and was allegedly used in the theft of $35 million in cryptocurrency from 150 victims. In 2025 an even larger theft of $150 million was traced back to the data breach.<ref>https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/03/feds-link-150m-cyberheist-to-2022-lastpass-hacks/</ref>

==Incidents==
===Free Tier Device Type Restrictions===
On February 16, 2021 LastPass changed it's free tier to restrict users to only one device type. After March 16, 2021 If a user was using LastPass on their Computer they would not be able to view their LastPass vault on mobile without paying for premium. These restrictions locked a large number of LastPass's userbase out of their passwords.<ref>https://blog.lastpass.com/posts/changes-to-lastpass-free</ref>

===2022 Data Breach===
In August 2022 and November 2022 LastPass suffered a data breach involving a backup copy of a customer database and customer password vaults. The attackers used a compromised developer account to access source code which contained credentials to the aforementioned backup database. The stolen data included encrypted usernames, passwords and secure notes. It was also discovered that URLs, IP Addresses, Phone Numbers and some emails were unencrypted.<ref>https://securityscorecard.com/blog/what-did-the-lastpass-breach-reveal-about-password-manager-security/</ref>

==See also==

==References==

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]

LastPass

2025-11-02T04:10:14Z

Box: LastPass page

{{ProductCargo
|ReleaseYear=2008
|InProduction=Yes
|ArticleType=Service
|Category=Password Managers, Browser extension, Software, Security
|Logo=LastPass logo.png
|Website=https://www.lastpass.com/
|Description=LastPass is a password manager application that allows users to store passwords and notes securely using one master password.
}}
'''LastPass''' is a password manager application that allows users to store passwords and notes securely using one master password. It was launched in 2008 and was one of the first widely adopted password managers.

In 2015 LastPass was acquired by GoTo (formerly LogMeIn Inc) for $110 million. LastPass was later spun off into it's own company being acquired by private equity firms Francisco Partners and Elliott Management in 2024.<ref>https://www.lastpass.com/company/newsroom/b948ad48-3268-4c9e-8b45-0d6d02d0b4e7</ref>

==Consumer-impact summary==
LastPass, being a password manager, stores and transmits highly sensitive information (passwords and secure notes). LastPass relies on it's users trusting it to safely handle this information and have it be accessible.

Use of a subscription service for more device types allows LastPass to restrict where users can view their passwords.

LastPass has suffered a number of security incidents over the years with the most severe being the 2022 data breach which saw encrypted customer passwords and secret notes get exposed.

==Incidents==
===Free Tier Device Type Restrictions===
On February 16, 2021 LastPass changed it's free tier to restrict users to only one device type. After March 16, 2021 If a user was using LastPass on their Computer they would not be able to view their LastPass vault on mobile without paying for premium. These restrictions locked a large number of LastPass's userbase out of their passwords.<ref>https://blog.lastpass.com/posts/changes-to-lastpass-free</ref>

===2022 Data Breach===
In August 2022 and November 2022 LastPass suffered a data breach involving a backup copy of a customer database and customer password vaults. The attackers used a compromised developer account to access source code which contained credentials to the aforementioned backup database. The stolen data included encrypted usernames, passwords and secure notes. It was also discovered that URLs, IP Addresses, Phone Numbers and some emails were unencrypted.<ref>https://securityscorecard.com/blog/what-did-the-lastpass-breach-reveal-about-password-manager-security/</ref>

==See also==

==References==

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]

LastPass

2025-11-02T03:27:46Z

Box: Created page with "{{ProductCargo |ReleaseYear=2008 |InProduction=Yes |ArticleType=Service |Category=Password Managers, Browser extension, Software, Security |Logo=LastPass logo.png |Website=https://www.lastpass.com/ |Description=LastPass is a password manager application that allows users to store passwords and notes securely using one master password. }} {{Ph-C-Int}} ==Consumer-impact summary== {{Ph-C-CIS}} ==Incidents== {{Ph-C-Inc}} This is a list of all consumer-protection inc..."

Fandom

2025-09-02T20:25:17Z

Box: Added McDonalds incident

{{CompanyCargo
|Founded=2004-10-18
|Industry=Entertainment
|Logo=Fandom.svg
|Type=Private
|Website=https://www.fandom.com/
|Description=Fandom, formerly known as Wikia, is a platform for hosting information and social media about movies, video games, books, and TV series.
}}

'''Fandom''', formerly known as '''Wikia''', is a media conglomerate based in the United States. The website has more than 50 million user-generated pages, as well as other multimedia databases such as GameFAQs, Metacritic, and Gamepedia. It also owns entertainment outlets such as GameSpot and TV Guide, in addition to owning online video game retailers such as Fanatical.

In 2018, Fandom was acquired by private equity firm TPG Capital. In 2024, the Detailed.com blog, which analyzes web development with regard to SEO, categorized Fandom as one of the 16 companies that dominate global traffic for Google Search, noting that it had been one of the largest domains it had ever recorded with an estimated 800 million visits according to statistics provided by Semrush in the same year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Allsopp |first=Glen |date=2024 |title=How 16 Companies are Dominating the World’s Google Search Results (2024 Edition) |url=https://detailed.com/google-control/ |access-date=2025-08-21 |website=Detailed.com}}</ref>

==Consumer-impact summary==

===User freedom===
{{Quote|''"Admin or not, the staff doesn't care about it, neither do the filters. If Fandom staff wants the word censored: you don't have any rights to be against it. Not even us"'' - Message posted by one of the [https://archive.ph/IWuY5 SOAP moderators], which was sent following a complaint from Fandom's automated system.}}
Users on Fandom have little control over the content they upload to the platform. Furthermore, Fandom staff clarify that all content uploaded by users to the platform is their property,<ref name=":0" /> and they can modify or alter it without the prior consent of the writers involved.

Fandom had previously replaced entire pages with advertisements without consulting the users involved. Among them are paid advertisements from corporations such as McDonald's to remove part of the historical data of their products for promotions.<ref name=":1" />

At the end of 2024, Jonathan Lee, part of the ''Weird Gloop'' platform staff, published an article about why they were helping several groups of editors migrate from Fandom.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Jonathan |date=2024-10-10 |title=Why we're helping more wikis move away from Fandom |url=https://weirdgloop.org/blog/why-were-helping-more-wikis-move-away-from-fandom#why-ditching-fandom-is-cool-and-based |access-date=2025-08-19 |website=Weird Gloop Blog |quote=If a wiki community is unhappy, and they have a better option somewhere else, they should be able to leave and take their stuff with them. We won't prop up the old wiki, Weekend-at-Bernies style, abusing the dominant Google position that the wiki editors built up while they were on our platform.}}</ref> Lee explained the advantages of migrating to independent host servers, noting that after the migrations, the number of edits increased significantly compared to their counterparts on Fandom in the case of the RuneScape and Minecraft wikis. He explained that one of the main problems with the platform was that users had no control over the content they published. Each wiki hosted by Weird Gloop has several clauses and memorandums in agreement with the editorial team, where there are protocols in place in case the community leaves.

Lee explained that giving editors the right to leave and transfer their content to another platform entirely helps prevent the host from going through [[enshittification]] processes, as it forces the host to strive to provide a better service in the event that users are dissatisfied with the service they have, rather than maintaining dead projects as Fandom does when a large part of the community decides to migrate en masse after policy changes.

===Privacy===
When you create an account on Fandom, your information and data is shared with more than 300 advertising and media partners.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-08-20 |title=Fandom and the multimillion dollar business of monetizing volunteer work |url=https://frisk.space/posts/fandom-and-the-multimillion-business-of-monetizing-volunteer-work/ |access-date=2025-08-20 |website=Frisk.space}}</ref> Additionally, the data provided by users is used for training AI models, including posts in discussions as well as content provided to pages. In 2025, Fandom confirmed to ''Inc Magazine'' that it had trained an AI model called ''“FanDNA Helix”'' using more than 50 million pages and user-generated posts so that advertising companies could target ads based on user consumption habits.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sherry |first=Ben |date=2025-02-18 |title=How Fandom Uses AI to Turn Your Obsessions Into Gold |url=https://www.inc.com/ben-sherry/how-fandom-uses-ai-to-turn-your-obsessions-into-gold/91145315 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250312182852/https://www.inc.com/ben-sherry/how-fandom-uses-ai-to-turn-your-obsessions-into-gold/91145315 |archive-date=March 12, 2025 |access-date=2025-07-20 |work=Inc Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Censorship===
{{Quote|''"The way Fandom displayed that they would permanently lock (and eventually delete) LyricWiki based on “We want Fandom to be a family friendly site…We also have some advertisers, for example Google, who have rules on what their ads can be shown next to” motivated us to censor content more aggressively.''

''Because we received no actual guidance from Fandom on what counts as e.g. “pornographic” or “obscene” besides a literal “I know it when I see it,” this led to a lot of inconsistency, a lot of back-and-forth, and a lot of headache for editors and readers alike."''
- Quote from the page [https://vocaloidlyrics.miraheze.org/wiki/Vocaloid_Lyrics_Wiki:Fandom_Migration Fandom Migration] via Vocaloid Lyrics}}[[File:Fandom Wiki - South Park Public Library Censorhip and Ads.png|alt=South Park Archives Fandom Wiki Censored Streaming Services (2025)|thumb|400x400px|Screenshot of the episode "Crippled Summer" along with intrusive ads for streaming services that were implemented without prior consent from users. Additionally, all profits from these affiliate links go to Fandom instead of the editors who wrote the original articles. ]]
Since Fandom is a company that relies on advertising to operate, part of the staff has to sanitize content to appeal to most of its brands and partners. This has caused certain clashes with editorial teams that discuss mature topics.

In 2017, Fandom attempted to censor a large portion of the sprites from the mainline ''Shin Megami Tensei'' games developed by Japanese studio Atlus after the company decided that most of the images did not qualify as artistic nudity.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-07 |title=Image censorship on Megami Tensei wiki by wikia employee |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Megaten/comments/7bbii9/image_censorship_on_megami_tensei_wiki_by_wikia/ |access-date=2025-08-22 |website=r/Megaten via Reddit}}</ref> Starting in 2021, Fandom would attempt to maintain a much stricter policy for the platform as family friendly, as well as censoring any content. This caused several wikis to move to other services due to frequent censorship, including the ''South Park Archives'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Blog:Farewell to Fandom |url=https://southpark.wiki.gg/wiki/Blog:Farewell_to_Fandom |access-date=2025-08-22 |website=South Park Archives via Wiki.gg}}</ref> where much of the scripts, characters, and scenes had to be censored to maintain a more family-friendly approach for advertisers, causing navigation errors as well as errors in the templates.

Later in 2025, the Siivagunner and Vocaloid Lyrics wikis migrated to different hosts, citing similar concerns where Fandom had removed a lot of content that could be controversial. The editorial team of the ''Siivagunner Wiki'' released a statement saying that part of the reason for moving the wiki to an independent host was due to the deliberate deletion of ''Mysikt Wiki'', another group dedicated to remixes and mashups, without prior notification from Fandom.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025 |title=Forking announcement |url=https://www.siivagunner.wiki/wiki/SiIvaGunner_Wiki:Forking_announcement |access-date=2025-08-22 |website=Siivagunner Wiki}}</ref>

===Anti-competitive practices===
{{Quote|''"It wasn’t the amount of ads, or Quick Answers, or the skin change, or staff’s horrible transparency, or their customization policy, or their shift in focus to social aspects, or any other abitrary factor that made them move from Fandom, but it was the product of all of these over a long period of time."'' - Quote from Lindey Clayton in the article of [https://medium.com/@lindenclayton/you-dont-understand-why-wikis-are-leaving-fandom-6378372ad06e "You don’t understand why wikis are leaving Fandom"]}}
In a blog post published in 2025 by editor Violet, who had previously worked on moving Death Battle Wiki to the non-profit host ''Miraheze'', he explained that one of the reasons for moving the wiki to a different host was due to Fandom's attempts to remove links or mentions to wikis on different platforms, explaining that this has led to a lot of internal discussion regarding external links, where editors are forced to promote dead wikis that are still hosted on Fandom instead of independent options that are actively maintained.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025 |title=Leaving Fandom |url=https://deathbattle.miraheze.org/wiki/DEATH_BATTLE!_Wiki:Leaving_FANDOM |access-date=2025-08-19 |website=Death Battle Wiki! via Miraheze |quote=Aside from this dodgy language being used to try and justify their anti-competitive practices, this also actively hinders our own editing by preventing us from providing external links to wikis that have migrated out of Fandom and are being actively supported, which means we are not "organically sharing" accurate information for franchises acknowledged by the show like, say, Terraria, Bendy, and Guilty Gear.}}</ref>

==Incidents==
This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].

===Portable Infoboxes (May 2017)===
{{Quote|''"Honestly, what allowed me to never put 100% of my trust to the FANDOM Staff was the fact that they disregard the concerns of their userbase most of the time. They'd introduce certain features and implement them without considering all of the potential flaws that'd persist. Remember the Portable infoboxes? They didn't think of inserting official tabbers in them when they first introduced them. It took several months before tabbers in PIs finally became a thing."'' - Quote from [https://archive.ph/UUvUT @QueenPinksweets], former Vocaloid Wiki Moderator (2021)}}
In mid-2017, Spanish programmer Jesús Martínez Novo, who had been working on the WikiDex project since 2006, published a note discussing his experience with the platform as well as the forking of the largest Pokémon wiki in Spanish. Martínez explained that in 2017, Fandom had forced users to abruptly change the code of some of their templates. This decision was not previously consulted with the users who had previously coded much of the site voluntarily, and the company gave them one week to convert the rest of the templates.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Martínez |first=Jesús |date=2017-05-07 |title=Wikia — When the site you spend most of the time goes evil |url=https://medium.com/@martineznovo/wikia-when-the-site-you-spend-most-of-the-time-goes-evil-1ce9d3f79285 |access-date=2025-08-19 |website=Medium}}</ref>

This decision caused quite a few problems on the website, as the technology behind Portable Infoboxes was not well-developed at the time, with templates unable to display icons or multiple images. In addition, Fandom would remove administrative rights from anyone who attempted to convert the templates back to their original code.<ref name=":2" />

===Auto-playing videos (September 2017)===
Throughout 2017, Fandom introduced auto-playing to several popular video game wikis, such as RuneScape and Fallout. These videos were inserted without prior consultation with editors, and many of them contained misinformation about the games covered by the wikis. The editorial team had to post notices informing users that they had no control over the videos, which were created solely by Fandom.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-09-05 |title=(PSA) Featured Videos on the RuneScape Wiki |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/runescape/comments/6yc8xt/psa_featured_videos_on_the_runescape_wiki/ |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=r/runescape via Reddit}}</ref> Some of the videos contained mispronunciations of in-game items, as well as featured stolen material from game footage. Notably, the videos produced about "Zamik Wizard"<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2017-08-05 |title=(PSA) Featured Videos on the Old School RuneScape Wiki |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/2007scape/comments/6ybxly/psa_featured_videos_on_the_old_school_runescape/ |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=r/2007scape via Reddit |quote=As you can probably guess, me and my colleagues are pissed about this change. And the worst thing is that we have ZERO SAY about this; it is out of our control. We have even created a template that we have added right underneath these videos to emphasize that these videos were made by the company, and not us, the admins who provide you with actual quality articles.}}</ref> are commonly referred to as a joke by the community due to the poor quality of the video.

===Fandom Shop (September 2020)===
[[File:Fandom Wiki - Bootleg Ripoff Online Shop Ad.jpg|alt=Fandom Wiki Shop Ripoff Bootleg Store (2020)|thumb|During 2020, Fandom aggressively promoted a store on its wikis, with much of the merchandise consisting of poor-quality bootlegs/ripoffs. Additionally, users expressed concern about how Fandom was clearly selling and profiting from merchandise based on intellectual property that it did not own.]]
At the end of 2020, the company introduced links to "Fandom Shop" on various wikis, an initiative by the company to distribute merchandise. This measure was criticized by users, as the links were embedded in the site's navigation without prior consultation by administrators. In addition, some of the products included poor-quality bootlegs products.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-16 |title=Wikia/FANDOM are rolling out a "Shop" tab on Wikis, filled with affiliate (for profit) links to stores. I would like to make folks aware that nearly 99% of items in this tab are UNOFFICIAL/BOOTLEGS. |url=https://x.com/danganronpawiki/status/1306182977999732741 |access-date=2025-07-17 |website=Danganronpa Wiki via Twitter}}</ref>

===NFT Integration Plans (February 2022)===
In early 2022, Fandom CEO Perkins Miller announced the possibility of integrating NFTs into the platform, despite backlash from user surveys and concerns about the environmental damage it could cause.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-16 |title=Perkins Miller, the CEO of @getFANDOM, our Wiki host, has put out a statement on LinkedIN that the platform is considering getting into NFTs, despite the admitted extremely poor feedback from a community survey. |url=https://x.com/danganronpawiki/status/1494105070220292098 |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=Danganronpa Wiki via Twitter}}</ref>

===McDonald's Fandom Advertising (June 2023)===
In June 2023 the [[McDonalds|McDonald's]] corporation paid Fandom to completely change the McDonald's Fandom wiki into an advertisement for their recent relaunch of the Grimace Shake as well as other McDonald's products. These changes were made against the wishes of the McDonald's Wiki editors including the original author of the Grimace page. The changelogs left by Fandom stated “switching over the entirety of Grimace article at McDonald’s request, just for the length of this campaign in 2023,”.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grimace Fandom Page |url=https://mcdonalds.fandom.com/wiki/Grimace?oldid=29634 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230617204844/https://mcdonalds.fandom.com/wiki/Grimace?oldid=29634}}</ref>

===Online grooming and sexual harassment (November 2023)===
{{Quote|1=''"When you're just trying to speak out and get a pedophile off the site, or they say that everything happened on Discord we can't do anything, [...], saying that pedophilia is okay if it's offsite this is just disgusting"'' - Quote from @bruhwrecksnoobs on the video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXqWuIcugrY FANDOM Is Disgusting]}}
In 2023, writer and video game developer Christopher Howard Wolf, under the alias "Slimebeast", posted several videos discussing how Fandom had allowed minors to be exposed to inappropriate content and citing concerns that child moderators had to maintain contact with groomers. Additionally, Howard Wolf criticized the fact that Fandom was using under-age volunteers to moderate its platform instead of proper employees to moderate the situation.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2023-11-19 |title=Wikitubia has a Minor Issue - Plus CreepsMcPasta Caught in 4k |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bKb6-xr4Qg |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=Slimebeast via YouTube |quote=That mod he referred to WAS THE UNDERAGED MOD THAT DID WHAT HE REQUESTED, proving that Wikitubia having on minors as mods puts them in direct contact with groomers. Imagine EDP DMing a kid mod who has a "duty" to talk to him.}}</ref>

Howard later posted videos explaining the inappropriate behavior of one of the administrators of Wikitubia and The Amazing Digital Circus Wiki, explaining that minors were being exposed, as well as publishing several documents detailing how minors were being harassed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Howard |first=Cristopher |date=2024-10-26 |title=Pred Concerns on YouTube Wiki & The Amazing Digital Circus Wiki |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXM_LRnWvTE |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=SlimeBeast via YouTube}}</ref> He also reported on Fandom Staff's handling of the situation, which had previously banned a victim of grooming for expressing concern about the safety of minors on the platform.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wolf |first=Cristopher |date=2024-10-28 |title=Fandom (The Company) Bans Grooming Whistleblower For Whistleblowing |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSGGVQwG1Is |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=SlimeBeast via YouTube}}</ref>

===AI translations (July 2025)===
In July 2025, Fandom began experimenting with creating wikis in other languages using generative AI. The move was boycotted by users, citing concerns about replacing editors and translators who had previously worked on the website to provide high-quality translations manually, as well as the dismantling of international support for other languages.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-08 |title=Fandom is planning to start translating English wiki articles into other languages using AI. If you log in to view comments on the blogpost announcing this, you can see this decision is extremely unpopular with Fandom editors. |url=https://x.com/mossbag69/status/1942656734146777248 |access-date=2025-08-17 |website=Mossbag69 via Twitter}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-07 |title=Apparently @getFANDOM is planning to launch AI generated non English wikis, and I *cannot* stress enough how bad this idea is, and how disrespectful it is to the people who create the content on their platform. |url=https://x.com/SEJordanWilson/status/1942405776267419777 |access-date=2025-07-17 |website=Jordan Wilson via Twitter}}</ref> In response, a petition was launched to halt the process of automating translations with generative AI, with approximately 390 different editors signing up to have the project canceled.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-07-11 |title=We are now over 390 editor signatures against Fandom's new plan to use AI to translate wikis from English to other languages. This replaces human editors with AI, and if Fandom is serious about supporting foreign languages, invest in people. Not machines. |url=https://x.com/SEJordanWilson/status/1943777100982628579 |access-date=2025-08-17 |website=Jordan Wilson via Twitter}}</ref>

===Stowarzyszenie Minecraft Wiki Polska (August 2025)===
In early August 2025, Stowarzyszenie Minecraft Wiki Polska, which hosts the independent wiki for the video game "Minecraft" in Polish, filed a DMCA claim for copyright infringement following the transfer of data from Gamepedia to Fandom.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-08-06 |title=David and Goliath - on Polish Minecraft Wiki taking legal action against Fandom |url=https://frisk.space/posts/pl-mcw-fandom/ |access-date=2025-08-17 |website=Frisk.space Blog |quote=Fandom has "aggregated content from the wiki" and by doing so has started to violate the license agreements. We read that "as a result of wiki account transfers, at least 1440 different usernames being pseudonyms of their creators were damaged". By result of doing so, Fandom couldn't fulfill the authorship requirement of Creative Commons licensed used by the wiki (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).}}</ref>

==Lawsuits==

===''Vishal Shah v. Fandom, Inc.'' (September 2024)===
In 2024, Vishal Shah sued Fandom for privacy violations, claiming that the company was sharing IP address information with external platforms, including [[Meta]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Christopher |date=2024-10-24 |title=Users Advance Fandom ‘Pen Register’ Suit Over IP Address Sharing |url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/consumers-video-privacy-class-action-against-fandom-can-proceed |access-date=2025-08-17 |website=Bloomberg Law}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Landis |first=Blake |date=2024-10-25 |title=Ninth Circuit Ruling Shows How CIPA Applies to Internet Tracking |url=https://natlawreview.com/article/invisible-data-real-consequences-navigating-ip-consent-dilemma |access-date=2025-08-17 |website=The National Law Review |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Proposed class says Fandom illegally tracked IP addresses |url=https://www.dailyjournal.com/article/376511-proposed-class-says-fandom-illegally-tracked-ip-addresses |access-date=2025-08-17 |website=The Daily Journal}}</ref>

==External links==
*''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySXP4hxFNFw "The Minecraft Wiki vs Corporate Greed"]'' (2024) published by videographer "DIMM4" focusing on the history of the Minecraft Wiki and its relationship with Fandom and Curse
*''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcfuA_UAz3I "Stop using Fandom"]'' (2023) published by game developer "Mossbag"
*''[https://awa.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Anti-Wikia_Alliance Anti-Wikia Alliance]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
__INDEX__

VRChat

2025-01-28T04:19:05Z

Box: Easy Anticheat controversy

{{Incomplete}}

{{InfoboxCompany
| Name = VRChat
| Type = Private
| Founded = 2014
| Industry = Entertainment Software
| Official Website = https://hello.vrchat.com/
| Logo = VRChat_Logo.svg
}}

[[wikipedia:VRChat|VRChat]] is a video game first released in 2014 by VRChat inc. While it is designed primarily for virtual reality, it is also available for desktop and mobile devices. The game focuses on social interaction and user generated content, such as worlds and avatars.

==Forced Arbitration==
VRChat's terms of service [https://hello.vrchat.com/legal] include a [[Forced Arbitration|forced arbitration]] clause with a [[class action|class-action]] waiver. To opt-out, you must send a letter containing your full legal name and your email address to VRChat Inc. within 30 days of agreeing to the TOS.

== Easy Anti-Cheat Controversy ==
On July 25, 2022 VRChat announced The VRChat Security Update. This update would force all PC players into running Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC for short) on their systems. Easy Anti-Cheat is a kernel level anticheat developed by Epic Games. In their blogpost VRChat stated the update was done to block the use of modified clients and to improve user security by blocking malicious clients.[https://hello.vrchat.com/blog/vrchat-security-update <nowiki>[2]</nowiki>] While this update succeeded in blocking PC clients many of the clients were very popular at the time and offered many quality of life features. EAC has also raised numerous privacy concerns for how it operates on a user's system and what type of data it collects. EAC is also prone to crashing and causing blue screens. This update also failed to cover the Meta Quest version of the game which some malicious clients migrated to. Notably clients used to rip avatars and user generated assets.
[[Category:Products]]