A new report has surfaced, accusing ToTok (not to be confused with TikTok) of being a spy tool, essentially. ToTok, for those of you who do not know, is a chatting app.
This application has been introduced only months ago, and it has managed to get great following since then.
Unfortunately for its users, this new report claims that we’re looking at a spy tool. The app has been removed from the Google Play Store.
ToTok is being accused of being a UAE spy tool
That being said, the New York Times has published a rather distressing report regarding ToTok. The source claims that ToTok is being used as a spy tool by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
To be more specific, it is claimed that the UAE government is using this app as a spy tool. New York Times says that the info comes from the American officials familiar with a classified intelligent assessment. On top of that, the New York Times says that it investigated the matter (the app and its developers) before publishing the report.
The source says that the app is being used by the UAE government to “track every conversation, movement, relationship, appointment, sound, and image of those who install it on their phones”.
Those are some serious accusations, and ToTok developers are yet to comment on it. As a side note, most of ToTok users are from UAE. Users outside of the country have also been using the app, though.
The New York Times says that a technical analysis and interviews with computer security experts showed that Breej Holding, a firm behind ToTok, is most likely a front company affiliated with DarkMatter, an Abu Dhabi-based cyberintelligence and hacking firm.
The report goes forward to state that DarkMatter is a firm where Emirati intelligence officials, former National Security Agency employees, and former Israeli military intelligence operatives work.
This company is actually under an FBI investigation at the moment, according to former employees and law enforcement officials.
Much more information has been shared in the full report
The New York Times goes further into the matter, explaining some other connections in the full report. You can check out the full report by clicking here.
This is rather distressing, though do note that the information may not be accurate. It seems like The New York Times went to great lengths here, but it remains to be seen what will ToTok’s response be.