Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, is asking Apple and Google to label apps owned by foreign companies (outside the U.S.) so iPhone and Android users know where the app came from. She says this should be done for national security reasons.
In letters sent to Apple and Google, Moody's asks CEOs Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai respectively to warn customers when downloading any app owned by a foreign company or created in a different country.
“We must ensure that consumers have the information they need to make informed decisions about security their,” Moody’s said in the letter to Apple and Google. “The current lack of transparency in app stores can create significant risk to American citizens and could lead to the exploitation of their personal information by foreign entities that are of concern.”
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To highlight the importance of the issue, Moody pointed to TikTok, the popular short-form video platform owned by Chinese company ByteDance. According to the Florida Attorney General, the app has been described by security as a direct risk to both user privacy and data security.
Another example is Pushwoosh, a Russian company that created code that was found in thousands of apps on the App Store.
“Furthermore, it is concerning that of the top apps on Apple’s App Store [and Google’s Play Store], the top three are China-related, with hundreds of millions of downloads domestically and billions worldwide,” Moody added.
It's worth noting that it's not clear who Moody's is targeting. Its letter to Google and Apple mentions apps owned by foreign companies, which means it includes any app developed and distributed by companies or individuals outside the U.S. However, the examples it cited are mostly related to China.
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Currently, the App Store highlights app developers and provides a link to their website. While the developer's nationality is not listed on the store page, users can access this information when they click through to the developer's website.
The US has declared “war” on TikTok in recent months due to national security concerns. Several states have already banned TikTok from official government devices (e.g. Texas, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Dakota). Additionally, the House of Representatives has ordered all staff and lawmakers to remove TikTok from their devices.
The US government has taken the drastic step of banning the use of TikTok on federally owned devices, with some hoping to go a step further and remove it from all app stores (Google and Apple) altogether.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carrbelieves a nationwide ban is inevitable. “I don’t think there’s a path to anything other than a ban,” Carr said in an interview in November.
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Also, earlier this month, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee called on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, the App Store and Google Play, due to national security concerns.
Colorado Democratic Senator Michael Bennetsent a letter to the two tech giants expressing his deep concerns that China could seek personal user information from TikTok or its parent company, ByteDance, through national security laws. Bennet warned that China could try to control what American users see on the app, which could have implications for democracy and foreign policy.
Source: appleinsider.com
