TikTok

Wells Fargo Tells Workers to Delete TikTok as Security, Privacy Concerns Grow

The move capped a week in which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was considering banning TikTok and other Chinese apps

An Apple iPhone 11 smartphone with the TikTok video sharing app logo
Phil Barker/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Wells Fargo is directing employees to delete TikTok from their work phones amid growing concerns over security and privacy from the short-form Chinese-owned video app, NBC News reports.

"We have identified a small number of Wells Fargo employees with corporate-owned devices who had installed the TikTok application on their device," Wells Fargo said in a statement to NBC News on Saturday. "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."

The move from the nation's fourth-largest bank came as Amazon clarified Friday it was not telling its employees to do the same, despite an email reportedly sent to some employees that instructed them to do so.

"This morning’s email to some of our employees was sent in error. There is no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok,” a spokesperson for the e-commerce giant said in a statement late Friday.

The company had requested that its workers remove the app from their mobile devices due to "security risks," according to a memo to employees seen by Reuters.

NBC News has not seen the memo.

Read the full story at NBCNews.com

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