Lately, TikTok has experienced plenty of buzz. For quite a while now, some US politicians claimed that the app could undermine the country’s national security, now more than ever given China's ties. Although the specialists’ opinions differ, some entities have decided to ban the app altogether. The US military has prevented the app from installing, while some senators proposed prohibiting the app from all government devices.
On Friday, things took another turn, when Amazon sent an email to its employees ordering the app removal from their devices. The mail read:"because of security risks, the TikTok app is no longer permitted on mobile devices that access Amazon email".
Amazon employees were even given a deadline; they needed remove the app from mobile devices by July 10 due to the Amazon email's accessibility. However, laptops provided by the company could still be used to access the app.
Later on, Amazon announced that the email was sent by mistake, adding "there is no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok."
On Monday, one of the largest banks in America, Wells Fargo, banned TikTok from company devices due to security concerns. In the statement released yesterday, the bank stated that "due to concerns about TikTok's privacy and security controls and practices, and because corporate-owned devices should be used for company business only, we have directed those employees to remove the app from their devices."
On the other side, TikTok officials are open to discuss any concerns that Amazon and Wells Fargo might have regarding security and data protection. Moreover, it said that the data belonging to the US users are in the States and doesn't undergo the Chinese laws. Currently, the company is trying to distance itself from China.
At closing yesterday, Wells Fargo ended on the negative territory with a 0.24% drop. The decline continues today in pre-market: - 0.28%.
Sources: edition.cnn.com, theverge.com