US TikTok ban back on the cards as FCC commissioner asks Apple and Google to remove app from stores

Remember 2020 when Donald Trump wanted ban TikTok United States?

Citing data security concerns, then-President Trump issued two executive orders banning US citizens and businesses from conducting any “transactions” with ByteDanceplatform-owned, then issued another order instructing ByteDance to divest its TikTok US business.

However, last June, after President Joe Biden revoked Trump’s executive order, a ban on TikTok in the US seems an unlikely possibility.

TikTok’s fate in the US is now leveling again, however, after FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr this week called for the app to be removed from the US. Google Play and Apple App Store.

Carr tweeted An open letter on Tuesday (June 28) to Google/Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook, asking for the app to be removed from their app stores.

Referring to the Trump administration’s data security concerns, Carr wrote that “TikTok is not what it seems.”

He added: “It’s more than just an app for sharing funny videos and memes. It is the clothes of the sheep.”

The letter follows an article on BuzzFeed published announced last week that US user data was accessed from China through the platform.

BuzzFeed reports that it reviewed “leaked audio from more than 80 TikTok internal meetings,” showing that “China-based ByteDance employees have repeatedly accessed non-public data.” about US TikTok users”.

Citing a BuzzFeed presentation, Carr wrote in his letter that the article “only adds to the overwhelming amount of evidence that TikTok poses a serious national security threat.”

“TikTok acts as a sophisticated surveillance tool that collects large amounts of personal and sensitive data.”

Brendan Carr, FCC

Elsewhere in the letter, Carr states that “at its core, TikTok acts as a sophisticated surveillance tool that collects large amounts of sensitive and personal data.”

He continued: “Indeed, TikTok collects everything from search and browsing history to keystroke patterns and biometric identification, including facial prints – which researchers say can used in unrelated facial recognition technology – and voice accents as well.

“It collects location data as well as draft messages and metadata, and it also collects text, images, and videos stored on the device clipboard.

“The list of personal data and sensitive data collected goes on from there. This, however, should come as no surprise. Within its borders, the PRC has developed a number of invasive and worldwide surveillance capabilities to maintain authoritarian control. “

Like report via TechCrunchTikTok announced on Friday (June 24) that it will be migrating the platform’s US-based user data to Oracle servers located in the US.

Commenting on the move in his letter, Carr wrote that the exodus “does not address the concerns raised here”.

He added: “TikTok has long claimed that its US user data is stored in US servers, however those representations do not provide protection against data theft. be accessed from Beijing.

“Apple and Google have long claimed to operate their app stores in a way that protects consumer privacy and protects their data. I therefore request that you apply your App Store policies to TikTok and remove it from the App Store and Google Play store for non-compliance with those policies.”

If Apple and Google decide not to remove TikTok from their app stores, Carr asked for his answers to be submitted by July 8, 2022.

In those separate replies, Carr wanted the tech giants to explain why “sneaky access to sensitive and private US user data by people living in Beijing coupled with TikTok’s misleading presentation and behavior doesn’t cause anything [Apple and Google’s] App Store Policy”.Worldwide music business