TikTok Changed How They Index TikToks

Hello, I’ve found out that TikTok has changed the way they index their API calls. They don’t seem to utilize max & min cursors anymore. It looks like they must keep a record of your IP and they don’t seem to return duplicates.

Proof

If you open TikTok in an incognito (to prove it’s not cookies) and view a few of the TikToks then close the tab and reopen it, TikTok won’t return any TikToks that you viewed.

Proof from API:

from TikTokApi import TikTokApi
api = TikTokApi()

first_call = api.trending(count=1)
second_call = api.trending(count=1)

print("Printing comparison of both calls")
print(first_call == second_call)

This code will print out false even though it should be true.

How you can help

I’m reaching out to the community to help me investigate this change. Below I’ve listed some questions that ideally we can investigate.

What information I’d like to know

• How long they store your IP until you can see TikToks you’ve already seen
• If there are anyways to bypass this
• If any endpoints are unaffected (the suggested methods shouldn’t be affected based on requests using cursors, but the ones that retrieve TikTok objects should be affected)

Consequences

Problems It’s going to cause for the library

• If you’re running a server with multiple user requests to it, users will not see the same information (you’ll have to store a DB of queries)

Benefits For The API

• No need to do offset calls made to the api
• You shouldn’t see duplicates

[darwin403]

@davidteather Unfortunately, that’s not very helpful to look further.

[liamengland1]

@skdcodes I don’t understand your obsession with original source. It’s a well known function in tiktok webapi. Several repos use it. Do your own research and RE if you’re unhappy with what’s available. You’re certainly not entitled to anything.