Apple, Google Called to Remove TikTok from App Stores by FCC Commissioner | But Why?

Apple and Google have been called to remove TikTok from the App Store and the Play Store by a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

TikTok, which garners millions of downloads on Google Play Store for Android users and Apple App Store for iPhones and iPads, is under fire after a recent BuzzFeed report alleges that the data of its US users are accessible in China.

This time, an FCC commissioner, Brendan Carr, is asking two renowned tech giants, Google and Apple, to remove the China-based video sharing service from their official app marketplaces.

Apple, Google Called to Remove TikTok

As per a news story by Business Insider, the FCC commissioner wrote a letter to the big bosses Google and Apple, namely the Chief Executive Officer of Alphabet Inc., Sundar Pichai, and the CEO of the Cupertino-based tech giant, Tim Cook, respectively.

The letter of Carr to the two tech executives provides references to the story of BuzzFeed, according to a recent report by Apple Insider.

The FCC commission began the letter cited the BuzzFeed report, which alleges TikTok of collecting sensitive data of its users in the US and allowing its top brass in China to access it.

The BuzzFeed story says that the report is based on a leaked audio recording and statements from nine employees of TikTok. It further alleges that the engineers in China are looking into the private users data of users in the US.

TikTok a National Risk?

All that said, the FCC commissioner now asks Google and Apple to remove TikTok from their app stores for being an "unacceptable national security risk."

Carr also says that it is due to its extensive data harvesting combined with Beijing's apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data."

On top of that, the commissioner also asserts that TikTok violated the rules and regulations of Google and Apple. He says that the "pattern of conduct and misrepresentations regarding the unfettered access that persons in Beijing have to sensitive US user data."

Furthermore, the FCC commissioner boldly argued that TikTok is "not just an app for sharing funny videos or memes."

It is worth noting that the video sharing platform has become popular to young folks, thanks to its entertaining content, such as trendy dance and laughable clips.

But Carr says it is more than just that, claiming that all the fun videos are merely "the sheep's clothing."

The commissioner told Google and Apple that "TikTok functions as a sophisticated surveillance tool that harvests extensive amounts of personal and sensitive data."

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Teejay Boris