TikTok-Phobia, FCC Officials Call On Google And Apple To Remove TikTok From App Stores

JAKARTA – The hatred of some officials in the US towards the TikTok application is getting worse. Recently a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission has urged the chief executives of Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google to remove China's TikTok from its app store.

Brendan Carr, FCC commissioner, said in a letter to CEOs, dated June 24 and sent on FCC letterhead, stating that the video-sharing app TikTok has collected a large amount of sensitive data about US users that ByteDance staff in Beijing has access to. ByteDance is the parent of TikTok in China.

Carr tweeted details of the letter on Tuesday. "TikTok isn't just another video app. It's sheep's clothing," Carr said on Twitter. "This harvests swathes of sensitive data that new reports say is being accessed in Beijing."

Carr asked the app provider company to remove TikTok from their app store by July 8 or explain to him why they don't plan on doing so.

Carr's request was unusual given that the FCC has no clear jurisdiction over app store content. The FCC regulates the national security space usually through its authority to license certain communications to companies.

A TikTok spokesman said the company's engineers at locations outside the United States, including China, may be granted access to US user data "as needed" and under "strict control."

Google declined to comment on Carr's letter, while Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

TikTok is currently under US regulatory scrutiny over US collection of personal data. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews deals by foreign acquirers for potential national security risks, ordered ByteDance in 2020 to divest TikTok over concerns that US user data could be passed on to the Chinese communist government.

To address the issue, TikTok said earlier this month that it was migrating US user information to servers at Oracle Corp.

A spokesman for the US Treasury, which chairs CFIUS, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"What we're seeing here from Commissioner Carr is the suggestion that at least some parts of the US government don't think this is enough," Richard Sofield, national security partner at law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP, said of TikTok and its partnership with Oracle.