US Official Urges Apple, Google To Remove TikTok Due To China-Linked Security Risk
The letter was dated June 24, as per the FCC letterhead. Moreover, in case they don¡¯t wish to comply with the same, they're asked to provide statements to him by July 8.
A US Federal Communications Commission leader has asked Apple and Google to take down TikTok from their app stores after concerns surrounding China-related data security.
Reuters
Reported first by CNBC, Brendan Carr shared the request via Twitter a letter addressed to Sundar Pichai -- CEO of Alphabet, as well as Tim Cook -- CEO of Apple, highlighting reports and other developments that made TikTok non-compliant with the app store policies of both the tech giants.
He said in a statement, ¡°TikTok is not what it appears to be on the surface. It is not just an app for sharing funny videos or meme. That¡¯s the sheep¡¯s clothing. At its core, TikTok functions as a sophisticated surveillance tool that harvests extensive amounts of personal and sensitive data.¡±
TikTok is not just another video app.
¡ª Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) June 28, 2022
That¡¯s the sheep¡¯s clothing.
It harvests swaths of sensitive data that new reports show are being accessed in Beijing.
I¡¯ve called on @Apple & @Google to remove TikTok from their app stores for its pattern of surreptitious data practices. pic.twitter.com/Le01fBpNjn
The letter was dated June 24, as per the FCC letterhead. Moreover, in case they don¡¯t wish to comply with the same, they're asked to provide statements to him by July 8. These statements must explain the reason why the company¡¯s conclusion doesn¡¯t go against their app store policies.
Reuters
One of the reports cited in the report was one by BuzzFeed News that had revealed engineers in China had access to US data between September 2021 and January 2022. However, an update on the report revealed that TikTok had announced moving all of the user's private data from its data centres in the US and Singapore to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC, ¡°Like many global companies, TikTok has engineering teams around the world. We employ access controls like encryption and security monitoring to secure user data, and the access approval process is overseen by our US-based security team. TikTok has consistently maintained that our engineers in locations outside of the US, including China, can be granted access to U.S. user data on an as-needed basis under those strict controls.¡±
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