Investigation Claims United Arab Emirates Uses The ToTok App To Spy
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for SoyCow1337:
Investigation Claims United Arab Emirates Uses The ToTok App To Spy:
The chat app known as ToTok (not to be confused with TikTok) is allegedly a spying tool used by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government to keep an eye on its users.
An investigation by the New York Times purports that the app spies on conversations, movements, relationships, and more. The firm behind ToTok is reportedly a cyberintelligence and hacking company.
The app debuted a few months ago, and is most commonly used in countries within the Emirates, but also has users throughout North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. Last week, it was the most downloaded social app in the U.S., according to the research firm App Annie. However, the Times reports that Google and Apple have removed the app from their app stores since finding out about the investigation.
In reference to why Google removed ToTok from its Play Store, a Google spokesperson told Digital Trends, "We take reports of security and privacy violations seriously. If we find behavior that violates our policies, we take action."
We also reached out Apple to comment on why they removed the app, but we haven't received a response.
According to ToTok's policies, you grant the app access to your location, as well as your phone's microphone, camera, calendar, cellular data and Wi-Fi, and other data once the app is opened. The information that is collected from users who download the app is reportedly sent to intelligence analysts working for the UAE.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.