Brendan Carr, Commissioner of the FCC, warned that TikTok “operates as a sophisticated surveillance tool,” and told the Indian daily Economic Times that banning the social app is a “natural next step in our efforts to secure communication network.”

The senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission said he is worried that China could use sensitive and non-public data gleaned from TikTok to “blackmail, espionage, foreign influence campaigns and surveillance.”

“We need to follow India’s lead more broadly to weed out other nefarious apps as well,” he said.

Carr’s remarks further illustrates a growing push among U.S. states and lawmakers that are increasingly growing cautious of TikTok, which has amassed over 100 million users in the nation.

New Delhi said it had banned the apps because they posed threats to the “national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India.”

TikTok had over 200 million monthly active users in India and counted the South Asian nation as its largest international market by users prior to the ban.

“If you look at the history of TikTok’s malign data flows and its misleading representations, I don’t see a path forward for anything other than a blanket ban working,” he told the newspaper.

India set an ‘incredibly important precedent’ by banning TikTok, FCC Commissioner says by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

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