In an official letter written to Apple and Google, Brendan Carr who is a Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission has highlighted how TikTok threatens data security concerns.
According to him, the wildly popular video app owned by Chinese company ByteDance, “is not just another video app. That’s the sheep’s clothing“. In a viral Tweet, he adds that TikTok “harvests swaths of sensitive data that new reports show are being accessed in Beijing“.
Brendan Carr addressed his letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. The letter pointed to reports and other developments that made TikTok non-compliant with the two companies’ app store policies.
“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,” he emphasized in the letter. “At its core, TikTok functions as a sophisticated surveillance tool that harvests extensive amounts of personal and sensitive data.”
TikTok is yet to respond to this development. However, Brendan’s Tweet has since gone viral globally with so many opinions from social media users. His letter has gathered over 6000 retweets on Twitter with more than 1000 comments.
Brendan who doubles as a Lawyer has also been granted interviews to news channels to defend his letter. Watch some of his interviews below as he explains why TikTok is not safe.
TikTok quickly went on the defense
After BuzzFeed News published its report, TikTok quickly went on the defense and announced that it is moving all U.S. users’ data to Oracle servers situated in the country. It specified that the company still uses its own U.S. and Singapore-based servers for backup. But in the future, it expects to “delete U.S. users’ private data from our own data centers and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the U.S.”
“We’re also making operational changes in line with this work — including the new department we recently established, with U.S.-based leadership, to solely manage U.S. user data for TikTok,” the company added.
TikTok’s user data practices have come under suspicion many times. In 2020, India have banner TikTok over national security issues and concerns, and both former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Baiden have raised questions about the short video app’s relations with China and how it affects U.S. users’ data. While Trump proposed an outright ban on TikTok or an option of selling its U.S. business to a local buyer, Biden proposed new rules that will give more oversight on apps with ties to “jurisdiction of foreign adversaries” that may pose national security risks.
India banned TikTok over national security concern’s, and both former president Donald Trump and the current President Joe Biden
We have reached out to TikTok, Apple and Google for a comment.
