Moody’s letter naturally pointed out the one foreign-owned app that many are fearful of, TikTok. The short-form video app is always among the top titles getting installed on Android and iOS devices each year. It is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance and Moody notes that the app has “been flagged by national security experts as posing a risk to both privacy and user information.”
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody wants a special designation to alert iOS and Android users about foreign-owned apps
AG Moody writes, “We must ensure that consumers have the information needed to make informed decisions about their data privacy and security. The existing lack of transparency in app stores can create a significant risk for American citizens and could cause their personal information to be exploited by foreign entities of concern.” She added, “Further, it is alarming that out of the top apps in Apple’s App Store [and Google’s Play Store], the top three are China-based, thus equating to hundreds of millions of downloads domestically and billions worldwide.”
Moody’s letter added that “Consumers deserve the highest level of transparency when choosing to download an application to their phones. This can be achieved by adding a foreign-owned and/or developed designation to applications related to these countries.”
