(COLORADO) — “Given its unacceptable risk to U.S. national security,” Colorado Senator, Michael Bennet, called on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from its app stores immediately on Thursday, Feb. 2.

(Photo by Pete Marovich-Pool/Getty Images)

In a letter addressed to Apple CEO, Tim Cook, and Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, Sen. Bennet emphasized the “vast and sophisticated data,” collected from TikTok users through faceprints and voiceprints.

“Unlike most social media platforms, TikTok poses a unique concern because Chinese law obligates ByteDance, its Beijing-based parent company, to ‘support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work,” wrote Sen. Bennet.

TikTok is now the third-most popular social media app in the U.S. with more than 100 million American users, according to Sen. Bennet. The average user spends more than 80 minutes per day on the app – more than FaceBook and Instagram combined. Roughly 36% of Americans over age 12 now use TikTok, including 61% of Americans ages 12 to 34, the letter stated. 

Colorado’s Senator further described how TikTok’s reach, “aggressive data collection” and obligations under Chinese law threaten U.S. security.

“Beijing’s requirement raises the obvious risk that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could weaponize TikTok against the United States, specifically, by forcing ByteDance to surrender Americans’ sensitive data or manipulate the content Americans receive to advance China’s interests,” continued Sen. Bennet in the letter. “No company subject to CCP dictates should have the power to accumulate such extensive data on the American people or curate content to nearly a third of our population.”

Sen. Bennet concluded the letter by stating that “unacceptable security risks from TikTok” have already resulted in the federal banning of the app from all federal government devices. Read the full letter here.

“At least 27 state governments have also passed full or partial bans on the app. Given these grave and growing concerns, I ask that you remove TikTok from your respective app stores immediately,” Sen. Bennet wrote.