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Comment by IWantAllTheData | Hacker News Reader

All the data were scraped without creating a TikTok account, AKA public data. Google.com has scraped more TikTok profiles and videos than me.

In fact, one the way i did it is by scraping google search results itself.

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It may not be quite that simple, see hiQ Labs vs LinkedIn[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HiQ_Labs_v._LinkedIn

Will check it out thanks. I'm always ready to take down the site if TikTok reach out me to.

That's not about public data. Reference [7] talked about creating fake accounts to scrape.

> hiQ had prevailed on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) “unauthorized access” issue related to public website data but was facing a ruling that it had breached LinkedIn’s User Agreement due to its scraping and creation of fake accounts (subject to its equitable defenses).

https://natlawreview.com/article/hiq-and-linkedin-reach-prop...

So many useful stuffs in the comments. Thank you, will give this a read as well.

There will be some backlash for this, it can seem nefarious when presented this way. That said, can we see your work?

Yes, I did receive some backlash, which is understandable. However, this is a very useful tool for content creators to find out what's trending on TikTok. It is also used by brands to analyze market sentiment about them.

I can't share the specifics, but i can explain the methodology in private. My contacts are on the website.

I didn't even think this could be controversial before reading the comments. I always assume what I post on social media is public.

Do others have different assumptions? Why would people get angry at a random person collecting data they published?

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