Senator from the US Democratic Party named Michael Bennet wrote to Apple and Google and asked them to remove TikTok from the App Store and Play Store.
According to him, the application made by ByteDance is a threat to national security, we were quoted as saying by Reuters, Friday (3/2/2023).
So far, the US Congress has indeed blocked TikTok from all devices owned by the federal government. TikTok is considered to be an extension of the Chinese government to collect data on US citizens.
"No company dictated by the Chinese Communist Party should have the power to gather vast amounts of data from Americans, or curate content for a third of our population," Bennett wrote in a letter he sent to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim. Cook.
"Given the risks involved, I urge you to remove TikTok from the App Store as soon as possible," added Bennett.
Previously there was also a democratic senator Dick Durbin who invited US citizens to stop using TikTok. Meanwhile in the House of Representatives (the US House of Representatives), currently discussing the use of TikTok in the United States, and they will vote for the rule this February.
In 2020, US President Donald Trump already tried to do something similar, namely blocking the presence of new users . Namely by banning the download of TikTok and blocking various other transactions involving TikTok. But the attempt failed because he lost in court.
Of course, this accusation was denied by TikTok, which said that the Chinese government cannot access the personal data of US citizens or manipulate the content in the application.
To explain this issue, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to speak before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee in March.