US Army has decided to play it safe and ban TikTok from government phones.
Earlier, the US Army had been using TikTok as a tool to recruit US soldiers. But then, the Pentagon intervened and suddenly the app was totally shunned from usage as the officials felt that the Chinese app posed several potential risks and cybersecurity threats.
According to a CNET report, an Army spokesperson said–
“The Army is following (Office of the Secretary of Defense) guidance on this. There was a Cyber Awareness Message sent out on 16 December that identifies TikTok as having potential security risks associated with its use. The message directs appropriate action for employees to take in order to safeguard their personal information. The guidance is to be wary of applications you download, monitor your phones for unusual and unsolicited texts etc. and delete them immediately and uninstall TikTok to circumvent any exposure of personal information.”
Almost all tech companies in China are influenced by the Chinese Government, the best example being WeChat. TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance which too is under the heavy influence of the Chinese government.
To put it simply, US Army thinks that the Chinese might use TikTok as a spying tool.
And they are most likely right to do so.
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