After the ban of Chinese applications in India, US Secretary of State Mike, Pompeo mentions that India’s clean up approach will boost India’s sovereignty and boost integrity and national security.
#WATCH — India's clean app approach will boost India's sovereignty and boost integrity and national security: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on India's decision to ban 59 Chinese apps pic.twitter.com/NKiycBu89A
— ANI (@ANI) July 1, 2020
“It collects the sites that you visit. It collects your search history. It collects your keystrokes. It collects your location data. It stores all of this and maybe lots, lots more. And I can tell you, as the father of two small children who already have many of their friends on social media even though they’re quite young, I find this absolutely horrifying. And we know that it’s a national security risk,” Senator Howley said.
According to Clyde Wallace, deputy assistant director of the Cyber Division at the FBI, where he oversees Cyber Division Operations and the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force, TikTok is one example of an application that the average citizen doesn’t understand the implications of what’s behind it and what data can flow from an application like that’s basically controlled by a state-sponsored actor.
“I think that leads into the bigger threat that China poses today in that it’s a holistic society approach to the United States. It’s not just the TikTok application. It’s the data warehouses that store that data. Whether they be here in the United States, owned by the Chinese, or within the Chinese borders themselves where that information is stored,” Clyde Wallace said.
In a statement on Tuesday, TikTok India Head Nikhil Gandhi said the company, which has some 200 million subscribers in India, has not shared any information of its users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government, and that it places the highest importance on user privacy and integrity.
The list of Chinese apps that have been banned by India also includes Helo, Likee, CamScanner, Vigo Video, Mi Video Call – Xiaomi, Clash of Kings as well as e-commerce platforms Club Factory and Shein.
