Social-Media
Reddit claims it's fixing the code in its iOS app that has copied the clipboard contents
Reddit says it's launching a patch for a piece of code that copied content from the user's clipboards. Users in the beta version of iOS 14, which sends an warning when an app attempts to copy the clipboard information, recorded receiving warnings for each keystroke in the Reddit iOS app.
We tracked this down to a code route in the post-composer that checks the URLs in the pasteboard and then recommends a post title based on the text content of the URL, the Reddit representative wrote to The Verge in an email. We do not store or submit the contents of the pasteboard. We removed this code and published the patch on July 14th.
Two iPhone developers, Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry, raised questions about clipboard copying activity back in February, mentioning that hundreds of applications were involved in the operation.
The privacy feature of iOS 14, which is still in a restricted beta for developers, has exposed a variety of devices involved in clipboard copying in recent weeks. LinkedIn said Friday would stop the practice, saying its app was doing so to conduct a "fair test" between what the user typed and what's in their clipboard. "We don't store or relay the contents of the clipboard," said LinkedIn Technology VP Erran Berger on Twitter. The organization did not explain why the procedure was in place to begin with.
TikTok, who in the past had been faced with privacy criticism of his app, was called for a similar clipboard-copying activity last week. The company said that the activity was part of the anti-spam feature and that it was discontinued.
The public beta of iOS 14 is anticipated in the next few weeks, so it is likely that the privacy function of the clipboard may disclose more apps involved in this questionable conduct.
