In a statement to The Verge, a Reddit spokesperson said: “We tracked this down to a codepath in the post composer that checks for URLs in the pasteboard and then suggests a post title based on the text contents of the URL. We do not store or send the pasteboard contents. We removed this code and are releasing the fix on July 14th.” Meanwhile LinkedIn VP Erran Berger said on Twitter that: “We’ve traced this to a code path that only does an equality check between the clipboard contents and the currently typed content in a text box. We don’t store or transmit the clipboard contents.” Berger was replying directly to Urspace.io writer Don Morton who raised the concerns about Reddit and LinkedIn via Twitter. iOS 14 has a banner notification come down if an app is accessing your clipboard, brought in as a security measure to make you aware of when apps may be looking at data on your phone without your permission. Along with TikTok, Reddit and LinkedIn are the two biggest apps to display the behaviour. Thanks to Apple’s Handoff feature where you can copy and paste between devices, Morton was able to show LinkedIn copying his MacBook’s clipboard even when he was using the app on his iPad.
Both companies have blamed code paths, meaning that the issue should be able to be fixed by rewriting particular code within the applications. Whether or not either company was aware of the behaviour remains unknown, but only Reddit has promised to fix it, whereas LinkedIn’s Berger stated that the app doesn’t store or transmit clipboard contents – but it’s likely that a fix is coming. Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.
