- Amazon reportedly told employees Friday that they have to delete TikTok from phones that they use to access their work email.
- The decision was made due to "security risks," according to a copy of the email reported by The New York Times.
- TikTok has come under scrutiny from US lawmakers for its data collection practices. While the app collects the same type of data that most apps collect, critics point to the fact that TikTok is owned by a Beijing-based company and question whether data could be turned over to the Chinese government.
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Amazon reportedly told employees Friday that they must delete the TikTok from phones they use to access their work email accounts, citing "security risks."
"Due to security risks, the TikTok app is no longer permitted on mobile devices that access Amazon email," employees were told, according to a copy of the email tweeted by New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz.
Tweet Embed://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1281632998509744129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Here's the email Amazon sent to employees this morning banning TikTok from employee phones.
"If you have TikTok on your device, you must remove it by 10-Jul to retain mobile access to Amazon email." pic.twitter.com/fIgmqyMhmO
Employees were told they must delete TikTok from their work devices by Friday in order to keep accessing their Amazon emails.
Amazon and TikTok did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.
TikTok has garnered scrutiny for its data collection practices. Much of that scrutiny stems from the fact that TikTok is owned by a Chinese company; however, experts told Business Insider that its data collection practices largely mirror those of popular US apps like Facebook.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration said it's considering banning TikTok in the US due to its Chinese ownership and data collection — but it hasn't clarified what such a ban would look like.
New details of TikTok's data collection practices came to light in recent weeks thanks to a new feature in Apple's iOS 14 that caught the app snooping on users' clipboard data. TikTok has since said it disabled the feature.
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See Also:
- US government is investigating TikTok for failing to change how it collects children's personal information following last year's $5.7 million privacy fine
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- How to cancel your Amazon Prime Video subscription through Amazon's website
