FCC Desak The Government Blocks TikTok For The Personal Data Of US Citizens
JAKARTA - A commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr, asked the United States (US) government to immediately ban TikTok rather than make national security agreements.
Carr concluded that there is a potential for errors in handling personal and sensitive data by TikTok and its parent company, China-based ByteDance. He also stressed that there is a risk to the political process in Uncle Sam's country.
"It's very difficult to see TikTok's behavior by thinking that we're going to cut the technical construction they won't find," Carr said in an interview with Axios.
This is not the first time Carr or other US officials have suppressed the ban on TikTok. Although TikTok has become a popular creative video social media, the company has repeatedly been accused of collecting large amounts of user data, including biometrics and locations accessible to the Chinese government.
Earlier this year, Carr testified before the DPR's Subcommittee on Supervision and Reform that essentially TikTok serves as a sophisticated surveillance tool that collects large amounts of personal and sensitive data.
In response to this, TikTok stated Carr had no role in secret discussions with the US government regarding the social media, and it appears that Carr expresses views that separate from his role as FCC commissioner.
"Commissioner Carr has no direct role or knowledge of classified discussions with the US government regarding TikTok and is not in a position to discuss what is needed in those negotiations," a TikTok spokesperson told CNN International.
"We believe that we are on track to reach an agreement with the US government that will meet all reasonable national security concerns," he added.
CNET reports that if the ban goes on, it will impact about 94.1 million TikTok users in the country, and the US will join India as the only country to directly ban TikTok, even if others have imposed restrictions or sensors on the app.