Google revives ToTok suspected of 'genius' spy app on Play Store


by

Mitchell Luo

Google has announced that it has made it possible to download the ToTok chat app, allegedly a spy tool by the UAE government, from the Google Play store.

Google lets alleged spying app ToTok back into Play Store-The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/6/21051977/to-tok-app-google-play-store-uae-spying-privacy

ToTok returns to the Google Play Store despite security concerns | Android Central
https://www.androidcentral.com/totok-returns-google-play-store-despite-security-concerns

ToTok Returned to Google Play Despite 'Spy Tool' Claims | Threatpost
https://threatpost.com/totok-returned-to-google-play-spy-tool/151576/

ToTok has been the most installed chat app in the Middle East and North Africa since its launch in 2019, but was removed from Google Play and the App Store in December 2019. The New York Times for ToTok, that it is 'user person who installed the conversation, position information and application of the UAE government spy tool in which the image data and the like have been collected in' , reports are, exploits the use or the back door, the malware ToTok's method of collecting user's personal information using only general functions is described as 'genius' by experts.

It turns out that the popular chat application was actually a government monitoring tool, and as a spy tool it is `` genius ''-gigazine


by stokkete

Giacomo Ziani, co-founder of ToTok, violently opposed the allegations of ToTok. Daily newspaper of the UAE Khaleej Times in an interview 'We respect, as well as deny once and for all the groundless accusations, we remember the deep sorrow on suspicion of forgery that has been cast. Sneaky that we got involved In the conspiracy, you can even feel jealous from some people who don't want the app published by the UAE to become a global player. '

Meanwhile, on January 4, 2020, journalist Kim Zetter, who raised the issue of ToTok on Twitter, said, `` Despite claiming that intelligence agencies are UAE spy tools, Google is We brought ToTok back to the Play Store over the weekend. '




In fact, if you access the ToTok distribution page of the Play Store, you can certainly install it.



The technical news site The Verge asked Google about the reason that Google returned ToTok and the reason it was originally deleted from the Play Store, but it was rejected for comment. However, The Verge pointed out that `` the fact that Google dared to return after deleting the app indicates that at least an investigation was done for violations of Play Store rules '', and in fact Google said He pointed out that he recognized that ToTok was OK.

A Google spokeswoman who successfully contacted Threatpost, a news site dedicated to IT security, said, 'We take reports of security and privacy breaches very seriously. 'I will do it,' he said, but did not talk about the specific reason ToTok returned to the Play Store.

ToTok has even created a movie of a petition statement for both companies to return the application to Google Play and the App Store. Zetter also said, 'ToTok is asking journalists to favorably promote ToTok and bribing it.' A message from Zetter, who claims to be a British influencer marketing company, said, 'We want the public to know that ToTok is a secure and user-friendly app. , A completely independent private start-up company founded by Giacomo Ziani. '




In addition, although ToTok has returned to the Google Play store, at the time of article creation, it can not be downloaded from the App Store.

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