Amazon Has Banned Employees from Using TikTok on Their Phones

Earlier in the week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed that the United States is considering to ban China’s TikTok video app due to security concerns.

President Trump confirmed his announcement and said, “It’s something we’re looking at, yes.”

E-commerce powerhouse Amazon has decided to ban the video app on its employees phones on Friday.

The company sent an e-mail that was obtained by Yahoo Finance, where the company told U.S. employees to remove TikTok from all mobile devices connected to Amazon email, or lose access to their email. Amazon employees in Europe received the same email a few hours later.

Amazon however is still allowing employees to access TikTok on their Amazon laptops.

The company’s e-mail read: “Due to security risks, the TikTok app is no longer permitted on mobile devices that access Amazon email. If you have TikTok on your device, you must remove it by Jul-10 to retain mobile access to Amazon email. At this time, using TikTok from your Amazon laptop browser is allowed.”

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, which is based in Beijing but also has a U.S. office in L.A.. The company had recently hired former Disney executive Kevin Mayer as its new CEO in May.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that TikTok is considering corporate changes to further distance itself from China, including moving its global headquarters to the U.S. and creating an independent TikTok board separate from ByteDance.

In response to Pompeo’s comments, TikTok said in a statement to Yahoo Finance, “TikTok is led by an American CEO, with 100s of employees and key leaders across safety, security, product, and public policy here in the U.S. We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users. We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked.”

TikTok sent this statement to Yahoo Finance over the Amazon ban: “User security is of the utmost importance to TikTok – we are fully committed to respecting the privacy of our users. While Amazon did not communicate to us before sending their email, and we still do not understand their concerns, we welcome a dialogue so we can address any issues they may have and enable their team to continue participating in our community. We’re proud that tens of millions of Americans turn to TikTok for entertainment, inspiration, and connection, including many of the Amazon employees and contractors who have been on the frontlines of this pandemic.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and have not been compensated for this article.