Google, Apple asked if apps like TikTok must disclose foreign ties

WASHINGTON: The chair of a U.S. congressional panel wrote to Alphabet's Google and to Apple on Friday to ask what if any disclosures mobile apps are required to make regarding overseas ties, a concern that follows reports of Chinese investment in popular apps such as TikTok and Grindr.

TikTok, which is wildly popular with teenagers, is owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance. In a related matter, the Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd has said it would sell popular gay dating app Grindr Inc by June 2020 because of U.S. national security concerns. "U.S. laws permit mobile applications to collect massive amounts of personal information about their users," the letters said, noting that some of the data is sensitive.Because of concern about TikTok, which is under scrutiny from the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States , ByteDance has stepped up efforts to separate the app from much of its Chinese operations.

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