Wells Fargo has urged employees to uninstall the popular Chinese video-sharing app, TikTok, from their company devices over privacy concerns.
“We have identified a small number of Wells Fargo employees with corporate-owned devices who had installed the TikTok application on their device,” says a Wells Fargo spokesperson.
“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.”
This comes a few days after Amazon sent a company-wide email asking employees to delete the app – however, it quickly cleared the air and formally announced that there was “no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok.”
The US Considers Banning TikTok
TikTok might be banned by the US over concerns of the popular Chinese video-sharing platform’s ability to handle user data as well as its relationship with parent company, ByteDance.
US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo in response to the ban rumours told Fox News that “We are taking this very seriously. We are certainly looking at it. With respect to Chinese apps on peoples’ cellphones, the United States will get this one right too.”
The Verge reports that motivation for the ban stems from the fact that “lawmakers allege that TikTok could be pressured into handing over data or other intelligence to the Chinese Communist Party”.
However, TikTok has taken a stand against these accusations, writing “TikTok is led by an American CEO, with hundreds of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product, and public policy here in the US. We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users. We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked.”
There’s no word just yet on whether or not the ban will come in effect.
