Amazon now claims that it is not banning its employees from using TikTok, despite an email saying the exact opposite that was sent to employees earlier on Friday.
“This morning’s email to some of our employees was sent in error,” an Amazon spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “There is no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok.”
In an email sent to company employees on Friday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos instructed staff to delete the Chinese-based social media app from any phone that can “access Amazon email.”
“Due to security risks, the TikTok app is no longer permitted on mobile devices that access Amazon email. If you have TikTok on your device, you must remove it by 10-Jul to retain mobile access to Amazon email,” read the email. Amazon has now reversed itself, claiming the email should not have been sent.
Officials at TikTok claimed they were surprised by the abrupt move from Bezos but said they were open to discussing how improvements could be made to overturn the decision.
“While Amazon did not communicate to us before sending their email, and we still do not understand their concerns, we welcome a dialogue,” read a statement from the tech company, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance.
TikTok has been at the center of debate regarding privacy within social media apps, as hundreds of millions of people have downloaded the app this year. A new update in Apple’s iOS revealed that TikTok was combing through keystrokes on phones that had the app installed, leading to concerns that the company was harvesting data and possibly spying on users.
Both President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized TikTok this week, and both said the administration is considering a ban on the popular video app.
“Your viewers should know we’re taking this very seriously — we’re certainly looking at it,” Pompeo said on Fox News. “We’ve worked on this very issue for a long time, whether it was the problems of having Huawei technology in your infrastructure, we’ve gone all over the world, and we’re making real progress getting that out. We declared ZTE a danger to our national security. We’ve done all these things. With respect to Chinese apps on people’s cellphones, I can assure you that the United States will get this one right too. I don’t want to get out in front of the president, but it’s something we’re looking at.”
When asked whether he would recommend that people download TikTok, Pompeo replied: “Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.”
TikTok has repeatedly denied that it is in cahoots with the Chinese government, claiming: “TikTok has an American CEO and is owned by a private company that is backed by some of the best-known U.S. investors, several of whom have members on its board … TikTok has never shared user data with the Chinese government, and would not do so if asked. Period.”
ByteDance and TikTok have repeatedly claimed that they have not and would never turn over TikTok user data to the Chinese government, but national security experts point to China’s own 2017 National Intelligence Law, which requires all Chinese companies to assist Chinese intelligence services when asked — and to keep it secret. The U.S. military banned TikTok from cellphones in early January, citing national security concerns.
TikTok responded to China’s imposition of a new “national security” law on Hong Kong by announcing it would be ending the app’s availability in Hong Kong. A spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that “in light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong.”
TikTok has been downloaded more than 2 billion times worldwide through Apple’s App Store and Google Play, according to the Sensor Tower data website, and there are likely tens of millions of TikTok users in the U.S. Last year, TikTok said it had attracted 150,000 users in Hong Kong. In May, longtime Disney executive Kevin Mayer became TikTok’s new CEO.
Following the new law put in place in Hong Kong and after skirmishes with the Chinese military near a disputed border, India banned almost 60 Chinese cellphone apps, including TikTok and the popular Chinese messaging app WeChat.
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, released a report in June detailing how the federal government provided “little-to-no oversight” of Chinese state-owned telecoms for two decades and how China is illicitly targeting U.S. communications the same way it has targeted education, research, and personal data.
