TikTok collected Android devices' MAC address despite Google's restriction

The short video-sharing platform owned by Chinese unicorn ByteDance reportedly took advantage of a security hole to collect the data

TikTok secretly collected device data for months via its Android app using a technique that Google prohibits developers from using without consent of users, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Although the practice came to an end in November, the finding could add to the woes of the short video-sharing platform which is facing threat of a ban in the US over its data protection practices.

TikTok's Android app tracked MAC (media access control) addresses -- unique hardware identifiers for networked devices -- for at least 15 months over 2018-19, according to the WSJ report on Tuesday.

TikTok managed to hide the tactic through