By Andy B. Mayfair
Is ToTok really a tool for spies, as some allege? Or is it merely a trending chat app?
The “Emirati messaging app that has been downloaded to millions of phones, is the latest escalation of a digital arms race,” wrote the New York Times yesterday. “It is billed as an easy and secure way to chat by video or text message with friends and family, even in a country that has restricted popular messaging services like WhatsApp and Skype. But the service, ToTok, is actually a spying tool, according to American officials familiar with a classified intelligence assessment and a New York Times investigation into the app and its developers. It is used by the government of the United Arab Emirates to try to track every conversation, movement, relationship, appointment, sound and image of those who install it on their phones.”
The ToTok app offers free messaging, voice calls and video calls, as well as conference calls involving up to 20 people. As the New York Times has reported, it appears to be a slightly-customized copy of YeeCall, a Chinese messaging app.
Introduced in 2019, the app was promoted by state-linked Emirati publications and soon found a wide user base in the Emirates. Its spread was aided by the fact that the Emirati government blocks certain functions of other messaging services such as Skype and WhatsApp.
In December 2019, ToTok was among the most-used 50 free apps in several countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, India and Sweden. As of December 2019, the app had 7.9 million downloads between the iOS App Store and Google Play, with nearly two million daily users.
Apple and Google “have reportedly both removed the messaging app ToTok from their online stores after The New York Times reported that it is a spy tool used by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government,” according to thehill.com. “Google removed the app from its store on Thursday and Apple removed it Friday, according to the Times. An Apple spokesman told the newspaper that the company was still researching the app. People who have already downloaded ToTok can reportedly still use it until they decide to remove it.
“We take reports of security and privacy violations seriously,” a Google spokesperson told The Hill in an email. “If we find behavior that violates our policies, we take action.” The spokesperson also confirmed the app’s Thursday removal from Google’s store.