FT journalist who’s phone was tracked by TikTok writes about the experience, and the fallout

    • The journalist is using “spying” in a more specific sense of “actually used the data gathered through my use of the app in order to establish specific things about me personally, for aims other than targeted advertising.”

      The “spying on all users” is more like “gathering loads of data on everyone to use for targeted advertising” and is much more a metaphor than the above. The above is more on the literal side of “spying”.

      And yes, this is a meaningful difference.