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AII-1002-06521
Well documentedThree or more independent publishers report the core facts.

ByteDance's Trae IDE collects user data despite telemetry opt-outs

ByteDance's Trae IDE reportedly continues to collect and transmit user data including hardware specifications and input activity to company servers even after users disable telemetry settings. A developer's analysis documented approximately 500 network calls continuing despite opt-out attempts.

28 July 2025 · ByteDance · Privacy and surveillance
28 July 2025

Drafted by Raidu Incident Detection, an automated system.

AII-1002-065214 sources ↓
Quick facts
Category
Privacy and surveillance
Country
China
Source
TheRegister.com
Date
28 July 2025
Drafted by
Raidu Incident Detection

What happened

A developer reported on GitHub that ByteDance's Trae AI-powered IDE has been collecting user data and sending it to the company's servers. Extensive network activity was observed to continue despite users disabling telemetry in settings, with around 500 network calls documented.

Reported impact

Hardware and OS specifications, mouse and keyboard activity, and other data continued to be transmitted to ByteDance's servers. Trae's memory usage was reported to be 3 times higher than competing tool Cursor.

Classification

Category
Privacy and surveillance
Industry
IT infrastructure and hosting
Country
China
Harm status
Actual harm
Intent
Unknown
Timing
Post-deployment
Harmed
Consumers
Failure modes
Data leak
Consequences
None recorded
AI systems
Trae IDE

Sources and evidence

This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.

TheRegister.com
ByteDance AI IDE Trae telemetry continues even after opt-out
28 July 2025
SC Media
Espionage purportedly facilitated by ByteDance AI coding tool
29 July 2025
TechRadar
ByteDance AI tool Trae caught spying on users
29 July 2025
WebProNews
ByteDance's Trae IDE Transmits User Data Despite Opt-Outs, Analysis Reveals
31 July 2025