Amazon mistakenly tells workers to take TikTok app off phones
- Internal memo ‘sent in error’ told employees that Chinese video sharing app was no longer allowed on mobile devices that access company email
- Fast growing social media platform has already been banned in India, with US threatening to follow suit
Amazon on Friday said it had mistakenly sent workers an email telling them to dump the TikTok mobile application from their mobile phones because of security concerns.
The internal message told workers they could still access the popular video sharing platform using laptop web browsers, but would lose access to company email on smartphones that have TikTok.
“This morning’s email to some of our employees was sent in error,” an Amazon spokesperson said in reply to an inquiry without going into detail. “There is no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok.”
The concern expressed in the internal message appeared to be that the TikTok mobile app could access Amazon company email, according to a copy posted online.
01:04
Pompeo says US considering ban on TikTok and other Chinese apps, praises Google, Facebook, Twitter
“User security is of the utmost importance to TikTok – we are fully committed to respecting the privacy of our users,” a spokeswoman for the company said.
She added that TikTok welcomed “a dialogue so we can address any issues they may have”.