Federal Communications Commission of the United States sent a letter to tech giants Apple Inc and Google on Tuesday. The letter requested the companies to remove the short-form video hosting service TikTok from their app stores. Such a request got forwarded as TikTok app was following a “pattern of surreptitious data practices.”
A few days ago, BuzzFeed News reported that the staff of TikTok parent company ByteDance was accessing the data of users in the United States of America. This report contradicted statements of TikTok that none of the data of US users is being accessed outside users.
In the letter addressed to Sundar Pichai and Tim Cook, Commissioner Brendan Carr stated that TikTok poses a national security risk to the United States. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, based in Beijing. And ByteDance is supposed to comply with Chinese law, therefore making TikTok data of millions of Americans access to the people’s republic of china.
Beijing is having unchecked access to the personal data of millions of US-based users of entertainment apps.
TikTok is not just another video app.
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
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) June 28, 2022
Mr Carr went on to say that the TikTok app was not just a video-sharing platform, but a tool to conduct surveillance on US citizens. He said that TikTok is collecting search history, biometric data, face prints, and such sensitive and personal data. All these collected data are going to Beijing, where it is used against the United States of America.
In the letter, he also mentioned different instances when TikTok circumvented various rules and guidelines regarding the protection of the personal data of users. According to the letter, TikTok used money and influence to cover up many lawsuits and cases regarding data misuse and access to data.
TikTok also wrongfully testified in US Congress hearings, which got proved last week when BuzzFeed News released a report about Chinese individuals accessing the data of US users. He also noted investigations and research conducted by various organizations and government agencies on the data usage of TikTok.
Google, Apple, or TikTok has not so far released any statement regarding the letter
