A Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission has pushed Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to remove Chinese-owned TikTok from their app stores.
Brendan Carr, the US FCC commissioner, stated in a letter to the CEOs dated June 24 and delivered on FCC letterhead that video-sharing software TikTok has amassed huge amounts of sensitive data on US users that ByteDance workers in Beijing may access. TikTok’s Chinese parent company is ByteDance.
“TikTok is more than simply a video app. That’s the wolf in sheep’s clothing “Carr stated this on Twitter. “It captures vast amounts of sensitive data, which fresh reports indicate accessed in Beijing.”
Carr demanded that the firms either remove TikTok from their app stores by July 8 or explain why they did not.
Carr’s proposal is extraordinary, considering that the FCC lacks clear jurisdiction over app store content. The FCC governs the national security arena primarily through its ability to issue corporations specific communications licenses.
According to a TikTok spokesperson, engineers in regions other than the United States, including China can access U.S. user data “on an as-needed basis” and under “tight safeguards.”
Google declined to comment on Carr’s letter, while Apple did not reply quickly to a request for comment.
TikTok has been under regulatory attention in the United States. Due to its gathering of personal data in the United States. Because of concerns that U.S. user data may be given on to China’s communist government. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) examines acquisitions by foreign acquirers for potential national security threats. Ordered ByteDance to sell TikTok in 2020.
To address these concerns. TikTok announced earlier this month that it has transferred the information of its US customers to Oracle Corp. servers.
A spokeswoman for the US Treasury, which heads CFIUS, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“What we’re seeing here from Commissioner Carr is an indication that at least certain portions of the United States government don’t think this is adequate,” Richard Sofield, a national security partner at law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP, said of TikTok’s collaboration with Oracle.
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