ToTok

The app was developed by Breej Holding Ltd, a UAE-based company. According to the New York Times, Breej Holding is a front company of DarkMatter, an Emirati intelligence company under FBI investigation for cybercrimes. The app purportedly was developed by Giacomo Ziani. Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan's adopted son was reportedly the sole director of Breej Holding Ltd. ToTok was linked to Pax AI, an Emirati data mining firm tied to DarkMatter and located in the same building as the Emirates' Signals Intelligence Agency. According to The New York Times, the app appeared to be a slightly-customized copy of YeeCall, a Chinese messaging app. ==Popularity==

Introduced in 2019, it 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, and was apparently the first Voice over IP app to gain regulatory approval. The app was also promoted by state-linked Emirati publications That ToTok appeared to not be affiliated with a powerful country may also have helped its popularity in the Middle East. ==Surveillance tool reports==

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. 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 cannot be further from the truth." 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 Timess reporting. 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. In response to the Timess inquiries, Google and Apple removed ToTok from their respective app stores on 19 and 20 December 2019. The app re-appeared on Google Play on 3 January 2020, and disappeared again on 15 February 2020. == See also ==