According to Moody, “the existing lack of transparency in app stores may create significant risk for US citizens and could lead to their personal information being exploited by foreign entities.”
That is why it asks them to provide a means for consumers to identify certain foreign-owned applications available for download, so that “they can make more informed decisions.”
The letters mention calls for nationwide action against the Chinese-owned app TikTok and the US downing of several unidentified objects, including a confirmed Chinese spy balloon.
Florida’s attorney general, a Republican and re-elected in 2022, specifically mentions TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, and Pushwoosh, a Russian-based software company. According to Moody, they pose a risk to both privacy and user information.
“Consumers cannot be expected to be aware of such risks without disclosing them,” he says in the statement reporting the letters to Apple and Google.
In his opinion it is “alarming” that the three main applications in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store are in China, which “is equivalent to hundreds of millions of downloads nationwide and billions worldwide. “.
Last week it was learned that the governor of Florida, Republican Ron DeSantis, asked the state Congress to prohibit the use of TikTok and other social networks from countries that are cause for “concern” in universities and public schools.
As reported by the governor’s office, the legislative initiative aims to protect the privacy and “digital rights” of citizens against large technology firms.
The proposal bans the use of TikTok and other China-linked social media platforms from all state government devices and through internet services at public schools and universities, the governor’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.
Source: Ambito
