On Tuesday, Brendan Carr, Commissioner of The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), wrote to Apple and Google. He requested that they remove TikTok from their app stores. According to him, this is because of “its pattern of surreptitious data practices”.
According to his posts on Twitter yesterday, “TikTok is not just another video app. That’s the sheep’s clothing. It harvests swaths of sensitive data that new reports show is being accessed in Beijing”.
What TikTok also has to say
Just last week, BuzzFeed News also made a report about it. It stated that TikTok’s staff in China had access to the data of U.S-based TikTok users up to January this year. After this report, Twitter jumped to its defense. It also announced that it is now moving the data of all U.S TikTok users to Oracle servers in the country.
In the middle of all this fuss, a spokesperson from TikTok also said; “We know we’re among the most scrutinized platforms from a security standpoint, and we aim to remove any doubt about the security of U.S users’ data. That’s why we hire experts in their fields, continually working to validate security standards and bring in reputable, independent third parties to test our defences”.
This request by Brendan Carr did not stop at requesting Google and Apple to remove TikTok, didn’t just end there. Reports have it that he has also informed that if they fail to do so, they would need to provide statements to him by July 8.
TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company. It is no surprise that they faced heavy U.S scrutiny under former President, Donald Trump. Recall also that in 2020, the app was banned in India over national security concerns.
TikTok also declined to comment on Carr’s letters to Apple and Google. This is according to the New York Post; a conservative daily tabloid newspaper in New York City.
In other news,
Amazon unveils its most innovative project, Proteus; a robot that helps humans. This was done in a bid to reduce the number of stressful activities among its staff. Activities like lifting carts and placing packages on them have been left to artificial intelligence.
This technological advancement also does not affect human employment in any way.
