Following the news that Amazon has banned all of its employees from downloading TikTok on their company devices that access company email. The Democratic and Republican National Committees have warned their staffers about using TikTok. Stating “Security concerns”.
This is the same reasoning that Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo stated last week, about possibly banning the app in the US.
Both committees have warned campaigns on every level, from federal down to local elections that are coming up this year.
Emails from DNC and RNC have been leaked
CNN got a copy of the emails from both committees. While the DNC stated in the email that “we continue to advise campaign staff to refrain from using TikTok on personal devices. If you are using TikTok for campaign work, we recommend using a separate phone and account.”
Meanwhile, the RNC stated in its email to staff that “the RNC has advised employees and stakeholders to not download the TikTok app on their personal devices.” And citing “security concerns” about the app. But TikTok is not the app that RNC is waring against. The RNC also wants staffers to refrain from using foreign-developed apps. This includes TikTok and FaceApp – which is a Russian app that became super popular last summer.
A TikTok spokesperson stated that “We are fully committed to protecting our users’ privacy and security. Under the leadership of our American CEO, along with our Chief Information Security Officer and Head of Safety, TikTok’s growing US team works diligently to develop a best-in-class security infrastructure and uphold our Community Guidelines which prohibit misleading and inauthentic content and accounts. We welcome a dialogue with anyone who has questions about TikTok so that we can ease concerns they may have.”
What does this mean for the election?
Basically, it means that you won’t see any campaign ads on TikTok, or any official TikTok accounts for candidates. Which is likely a good thing. But it’s a bigger deal for TikTok.
For TikTok, the walls continue to crumble around them. After India banned the app a couple of weeks ago, now the US is starting to take aim at the app. India was by far, its largest market, so that was a big hit for TikTok. But with the US possibly banning the app, that would wipe out two of the top three markets for TikTok and cost them a ton of money. The India ban is already set to cost them $6 billion.
The US hasn’t yet banned TikTok, but it looks like that will be happening rather soon.