Wells Fargo Employees Advised to Delete TikTok from Company Phones

The popular TikTok app was deemed a security risk by Wells Fargo, and its employees have been told to delete the app from their phones. It’s not the first company to suggest this course of action, following mixed messages from Amazon.

TikTok took the world by storm and, until recently, was mostly used by young people and kids. From there, it grew in popularity among the general population. Since many companies and even governments issue devices their employees, the application inevitably landed on such endpoints.

A Chinese company called ByteDance builds the application, which is where the problems arise. The developers have been accused of collecting data and sharing it with the Chinese government, although no tangible proof has been found. Given existing legislation in China, which grants the government extensive power of access to private-sector data generated by companies in their country, the security concerns seem legitimate.

According to a CCN report, a Wells Fargo spokesperson confirmed the information.

“A small number of employees with corporate-owned devices who had installed the TikTok application,” The spokesperson said. “Due to concerns about TikTok’s privacy and security controls and practices, and because corporate-owned devices should be used for company business only, we have directed those employees to remove the app from their devices.”

A few days ago, Amazon sent an internal memo saying pretty much the same thing, only to backtrack a few hours later, saying that it has been sent by mistake. On the other hand, TikTok is not staying silent.

“Tens of millions of Americans, including Wells Fargo employees, come to TikTok for entertainment, inspiration and connection, especially during the pandemic. Our hope is that whatever concerns Wells Fargo can be answered through transparent dialogue so that their employees can continue to participate in and benefit from our community,” reads the announcement from TikTok.

Whatever is happening with the app is still open for debate, but more companies and government will likely continue to push for its elimination.