The US FCC Commissioner, Brendan Carr, has sent a letter to both the Google and Apple app stores asking them to remove the popular Tik Tok video app from their stores, because it is “harvesting ‘swaths of sensitive data’ that is being accessed by the Chinese Communist Party (CPP), Fox News reports.
Carr described the app as an “unacceptable national security risk.”
Fox News provides more details:
In a letter dated June 24, Brendan Carr, the commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, warned Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet Inc. and Google LLC CEO Sundar Pichai of “an alarming new report” that shed fresh light on “serious national security threats posed by TikTok.”
“TikTok is not what it appears to be on the surface. It is not just an app for sharing funning videos or memes. That’s the sheep’s clothing,” Carr wrote. “At its core, TikTok functions as a sophisticated surveillance tool that harvests extensive amounts of personal and sensitive data.”
Millions of Americans have downloaded the popular social media app that is owned by ByteDance. Because it is based in Communist China, the company is beholden to the CCP’s dystopian surveillance laws.
Citing a recent report by Buzzfeed News, the FCC chairman alleges that data of American users collected by Tik Tok has already been accessed by CCP officials.
This can include personal data, the person’s browser history, face prints, voice prints, and as well any texts, images and videos stored on the cell phone’s clipboard.
The US military, India and several major corporations have already banned Tik Tok due to national security concerns.
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