Article Title: Amazon Backtracks From Demand That Employees Delete TikTok
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/technology/tiktok-amazon-security-risk.html
Amazon recently asked its employees to delete TikTok, a Chinese-owned video app whose use is growing rapidly. The move has led to a lot of suspicion regarding why the compny is paranoid about TikTok. Amazon defended itself by claiming it was a misinformation; however, the company had earlier demanded that no employee should have the app in their cellphone citing security risks.
Although Amazon insists that the company has not changed its policies regarding the use of TikTok, the application has raised security tension in the United States because of the fact that it is Chinese-owned. There has been significant tension between the United States and China over multiple issues. The United States government has been considering banning the use of Chinese-based mobile applications as they are considered a threat to national security. Most young people are already using TikTok and Americans are worries of its ban.
The country’s concern regarding the security implications of TikTok are valid, especially if the application does not portray required privacy and security controls. Although the use of the app has not yet been banned in the United States, government agency workers, including the military is prohibited from installing TikTok and other similar apps on government or company-owned phones. This is an important move because workplace devices should only be used for work-related activities to minimize the security threats. However, banning the use of TikTok in the United States can be a strategy to achieve anterior motives by competing companies that view the app as a potential competitor in the digital market.