Forensic analysis of TikTok application to seek digital artifacts on Android smartphone

Abstract

Emerging with highlight features as a global phenomenon, TikTok - the international version of Douyin application in China market, is a social media video app for creating and sharing short lip-syncing. This social video platform has seen astounding growth by reaching 1.5 billion users in 2019 by capturing the cultural zeitgeist among teenage smartphone owners in unprecedented fashion. However, criminals have been paid attention to this platform where young users become the target of abusers or predators. In this paper, we introduce the forensic analysis of the artifacts left on Android phones by TikTok application. In more detail, we indicate a complete description of all the artifacts obtained in TikTok. Furthermore, by using the results discussed in the paper, an investigator can rebuild the list of followers, searching keywords, favorites, messages that have been exchanged by users. It is helpful to examine and determine which artifacts could be considered as evidence for criminal investigation on popular social networking application.