Why the FCC Wants Apple and Google to Delete TikTok From App Stores
The US government, under the Trump administration, tried several times to control TikTok’s operations without success. Trump argued that US users risked having their data exposed to the Chinese government due to its ownership by ByteDance (a Chinese company) and so attempted to ban TikTok from US app stores.Now a member of the FCC has called for Apple and Google to delete TikTok from their app stores, and TikTok headquarters must be feeling déjà vu. Will the effort to ban TikTok work this time around?
FCC Commissioner Asks Apple and Google to Delete TikTok From App Stores
Brendan Carr, a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has written a letter to the CEOs of Apple and Google requesting them to remove TikTok from their app stores.
This is a case of history repeating itself, as the Trump administrationtried to ban TikTok,a policy that was later rescinded by the Biden administrationafter it failed in court.TikTok is currently banned in several countries.
Carr has further told Apple and Alphabet (the parent company of Google) that if they do not remove TikTok from their app stores, they should provide statements to him by July 8, 2022, explaining why.
The statements should explain to Carr “the basis for your company’s conclusion that the surreptitious access of private and sensitive U.S. user data by persons located in Beijing, coupled with TikTok’s pattern of misleading representations and conduct, does not run afoul of any of your app store policies.”
Why Is TikTok in Trouble Again?
Carr’s letter was prompted by aBuzzFeed report, based on leaked audio recordings from internal TikTok meetings, that revealed that all the data that TikTok collects about US users is accessible to officials at its ByteDance headquarters in Beijing.
According to BuzzFeed, a TikTok official said “Everything is seen in China.” Apparently, there’s an engineer based in Beijing who is a “Master Admin” and who “has access to everything.”
This is significant because, according to Carr, ByteDance is required by Chinese law to comply with surveillance demands by the Chinese government.
TikTok’s Defense: All US Data Will Be Stored in the US
TikTok has usedits blogto assert that it has been working to move all US data to the US and protect it from China.
“Today, 100 percent of US user traffic is being routed to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. We still use our US and Singapore data centers for backup, but as we continue our work we expect to delete US users' private data from our own data centers and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the US,” writes TikTok.
However, according toCNBC, this is somewhat contradicted by a TikTok statement saying “Like many global companies, TikTok has engineering teams around the world… our engineers in locations outside of the US, including China, can be granted access to U.S. user data on an as-needed basis.”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew confirmed this in aletter to US Senatorspublished by the New York Times, in which he admits that some employees based in China can access US user data “subject to a series of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our U.S.-based security team.”
Chew notes that the Chinese government has not requested any US user data, and TikTok would not provide it if asked.
Carr Has a Point
No less a person than TikTok’s CEO has confirmed that, indeed, Beijing-based employees can access all of TikTok’s data, including US user data, but that they have never shared this data with the Chinese government and wouldn’t do so if asked.
While this is reassuring on the surface, it doesn’t address the fact that China has unlimited legal power over its companies. Even if China has not requested TikTok for US user data, and even if TikTok would decline if asked, there’s nothing that stops China from covertly installing government employees at TikTok’s Beijing headquarters.
The worst-case scenario, from an American perspective, is that the Beijing-based “Master Admin” is actually a Chinese Intelligence officer.
Will TikTok Survive This Renewed Pressure?
TikTok’s decision to move all US user data to the US, in partnership with Oracle, is a very good one. Under normal circumstances, this would be enough to reassure US regulators.
However, TikTok’s own admission that employees in China can still access this data undermines TikTok’s position. It remains to be seen how this matter will play out in Congress and in US courts.
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