The Gentle January series shares one practical privacy tip a day from a Markup staffer who actually uses the advice in their own life.

If you’re like me and form part of the nearly one billion individuals who have downloaded TikTok, you may have noticed something strange while scrolling the For You page: the “people you may know.”

I started to regularly get recommended users that were a bit too close for comfort: an old friend’s mom, a high school teacher, and even someone I couldn’t quite trace my relationship to—until realizing I had saved their contact to coordinate a Craigslist purchase. Other users have shared similar reports.

That’s why I recommend reviewing your social media privacy settings. Apps, including TikTok, all have different ways of recommending your profile to others and recommending others’ profiles to you. If you have TikTok and don’t want your profile suggested to anyone whose number you have saved, stop the app from suggesting your account to contacts and Facebook friends.