FCC COMMISSIONER CALLS ON APPLE AND GOOGLE TO REMOVE TIKTOK FROM THEIR APP STORES
In the wake of a recent BuzzFeed News report that found that TikTok US user data was accessed repeatedly in China, a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission called on Apple and Google to remove the social-media platform from its app stores.
In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr wrote that TikTok “poses an unacceptable national security risk due to its extensive data harvesting combined with Beijing’s apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data.”
Carr argued that TikTok has not abided by Apple and Google’s rules because of the “pattern of conduct and misrepresentations regarding the unfettered access that persons in Beijing have to sensitive US user data.”
A Representative for Google declined to comment on Carr’s letter when requested by Insider. Representatives for TikTok and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“TikTok is not what it appears to be on the surface,” Carr wrote. “It’s not just an app for sharing funny videos or memes. 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.”
