ToTok is a messaging app developed by Giacomo Ziani.

It was introduced in Abu Dhabi Global

Market economic free zone.[1]According to The New York Times, it is also a mass surveillance tool of
the United Arab Emirates intelligence services, used to gather private information on users' phones.
The Times's reporting, denied by the app's developers, caused Google and Apple to remove the app
in December 2019.

Contents

 1Features and development

 2Popularity
 3Surveillance tool reports
 4See also
 5References
 6Further reading

Features and development[edit]

The ToTok app offers free messaging, voice calls and video calls. Conference calls involving up to
20 people can also be made.[2] According to the New York Times, the app appears to be a slightly-
customized copy of YeeCall, a Chinese messaging app.[3]

Popularity[edit]
Introduced in 2019, it soon found a wide user base in the Emirates.[3] Its spread was aided by the fact
that the Emirati government blocks certain functions of other messaging services such
as Skype and WhatsApp, and was apparently the first Voice over IP app to gain regulatory approval.
[4]
 The app was also promoted by state-linked Emirati publications[3] and by the Chinese
telecommunications company Huawei.[5] That ToTok appeared to not be affiliated with a powerful
country may also have helped its popularity in the Middle East.[3] In December 2019, BotIM, a
subscription-based messaging app, sent its users a message recommending ToTok for free
messaging and calls.[2]
As of December 2019, ToTok was among the most-used 50 free apps in several countries including
Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, India and Sweden.[3] 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.[6]

Surveillance tool reports[edit]

On 22 December 2019, The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence assessments and the
paper's own investigations showed that ToTok was used by Emirati intelligence to gather all
conversations, movements, relationships, appointments, sounds and images by the app's users.
[3]
 The app does not use exploits, backdoors or malware. Instead, it gives the government access to
the information shared through the app, as well as to other information on the smartphone that the
government can access through permissions granted by users in order to enable the app's features.
[7]

According to the Times, the company behind ToTok, Breej Holding, is a front company
of DarkMatter, an Emirati intelligence company under FBI investigation for cybercrimes.
[3]
 The Times also linked ToTok to Pax AI, an Emirati data mining firm tied to DarkMatter and located
in the same building as the Emirates' Signals Intelligence Agency.[3]
Breej Holding denied that its app was a spy tool, writing that its users "have the complete control
over what data they want to share at their own discretion. The shameless fabrication by our
distractors [sic] cannot be further from the truth."[8] The Emirati telecommunications agency issued a
statement that emphasized what it said were the country's strict privacy laws, but did not directly
address the Times's reporting.[9] The local Khaleej Times interviewed the "ToTok co-founder"
Giacomo Ziani, who confirmed that he bought YeeCall's code, but also denied that his app was a
government surveillance tool.[10]
In response to the Times's inquiries, Google and Apple removed ToTok from their respective app
stores on 19 and 20 December.[3][11][12] The app re-appeared on Google Play on 3 January 2020,[13] and
disappeared again on 15 February 2020.[14]