Security News > 2022 > June > U.S. FCC Commissioner Asks Apple and Google to Remove TikTok from App Stores

One of the commissioners of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has renewed calls asking for Apple and Google to boot the popular video-sharing platform TikTok from their app stores citing "Its pattern of surreptitious data practices."

"It is clear that TikTok poses an unacceptable national security risk due to its extensive data harvesting being combined with Beijing's apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data," Brendan Carr, a Republican member of the FCC, wrote in a letter to Apple and Google's chief executives.

The letter also references a litany of controversies that TikTok found itself in over the years, including skirting Android safeguards to track users online, accessing iOS clipboard information, and settling a class-action lawsuit for $92 million over allegations that it captured biometric and personal data from users in the U.S. without prior consent.

In a statement shared with the business news publication, TikTok said engineers in locations outside of the U.S., including China, can be permitted access to U.S. user data on an "As-needed basis" under strict access controls.

TikTok has since announced that it's "Changed the default storage location of U.S. user data" and that it's routing all information from its users in the country through infrastructure controlled by Oracle.

It's worth noting that several U.S. military branches have already banned its members from using TikTok on government-issued devices due to possible security risks.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/06/us-fcc-commissioner-asks-apple-and.html