Continuing the hate against TikTok, the US FCC head Brendan Carr said India had set an “incredibly important precedent” by banning the app long ago.

Calling TikTok a “sophisticated surveillance tool,” Carr said the US should follow India’s lead to weed out such nefarious apps for good. Before the ban in 2019, TikTok had over 200 million monthly active users in India and is the biggest market outside China.

Banning TikTok in the US

The US is in full swing to ban TikTok in any terms – despite the app making progress in complying with the local rules. Lately, the FCC head Brenden Carr praised India’s decision to ban the app a long time ago – calling it an “incredibly important precedent” set for others to follow.

Talking to the local newspaper Economic Times, Carr called TikTok a “sophisticated surveillance tool” that could be used to “blackmail, espionage, foreign influence campaigns, and surveillance.”

Since having close ties to the Chinese government, TikTok could be used for accessing the sensitive and non-public data of its users, in critical conditions. This was flagged by a number of security researchers, lawmakers, and even the FBI – where its head called TikTok a trojanized malware.

Saying that banning TikTok is a “natural next step in our efforts to secure communication network,” Carr noted, “We need to follow India’s lead more broadly to weed out other nefarious apps as well.”

India banned TikTok and a bunch of other Chinese apps a long time ago – citing threats to the “national security and defense of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India.”

Before that, India is having over 200 million people using TikTok every month and is the biggest foreign market for the platform. The US currently has over 100 million users across the country and a number of bills pending approval to ban it.

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