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Amazon backtracks from demand that employees delete TikTok

Last Updated 11 July 2020, 02:35 IST

Amazon on Friday asked its employees to delete the Chinese-owned video app TikTok from their cellphones, putting the tech giant at the center of growing suspicion and paranoia about the app.

Almost five hours later, Amazon reversed course, saying the email to workers was sent in error.

In the initial email, which was obtained by The New York Times, Amazon officials said that because of “security risks,” employees must delete the app from any devices that “access Amazon email.” Employees had to remove the app by Friday to remain able to obtain mobile access to their Amazon email, the note said.

In a statement sent later Friday, company spokeswoman Kristin Brown said, “There is no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok.”

But by then, the initial email had already added to the storm surrounding TikTok, which has been popular with young audiences for its short, fun videos, and which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance. Because of its Chinese ownership, TikTok has come under increasing scrutiny in Washington over its security.

Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, said Monday that the Trump administration was considering blocking some Chinese apps, which he has called a threat to national security. Many users who have built community and business on TikTok are fearful of a broad ban. Some Amazon employees publicly shared dismay at not being able to use the app.

Last year, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal panel that reviews foreign acquisitions of American firms, opened a national security review of ByteDance’s acquisition of the American company Musical.ly, which eventually became TikTok.

In December, the Defense Department began telling military personnel to delete the app from government-issued phones. The same month, the Democratic National Committee warned campaigns, committees and state parties about TikTok’s “Chinese ties and potentially sending data back to the Chinese government.”

ByteDance has made a series of moves in response to the concerns. The company said that it would separate TikTok from much of its Chinese operations, and that users’ personal data would be stored in the United States.

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(Published 11 July 2020, 02:35 IST)

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