Opinion | Targeting TikTok, Grindr and FaceApp is not enough – the US needs to lay down the law on data privacy for tech firms

These apps are security threats because the US, which hosts firms that store huge quantities of information, has adopted no federal rules governing how companies can acquire, utilise and monetise personal data

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Pedestrians check their smartphones on Wall Street in New York in November 2018. The increasing popularity of phone apps means that tech firms, including those with ties abroad, have access to vasts amounts of user data. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 3:00am, 26 Jan 2020Updated: 4:58pm, 16 Feb 2020

US intelligence and defence officials are increasingly concerned about foreign access to troves of personal data sets. This month, the US Treasury announced new regulations to limit foreign investment in companies that provide data-driven services. Policymakers fear some foreign firms might share that data with adversaries or use it in ways that threaten individuals and the nation.

For example, TikTok is an artificial intelligence-based app for making videos and the first viable global competitor to Facebook’s messaging apps. In 2019, the US Army successfully used the app to attract new recruits.

However, because the app is owned by a Chinese company, some analysts warned that the company could share the personal data it obtains with the Chinese government, which in turn could use that data to threaten national security. Although the company denied the allegations, the US government announced it was investigating the firm. The army warned its staff not to use the app.

Yet TikTok is still available to both Apple and Android customers.

ToTok is a messaging app that is one of the top free apps in Saudi Arabia, Britain, India and Sweden, and increasingly popular in the US. The app was available on both the Android and Apple platforms.