Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Google has made the popular chat app ToTok available again for download after the service was banned from the Play Store for reportedly functioning as an espionage tool of the United Arab Emirates.
ToTok was pitched as a secure app that’s available where Western counterparts like WhatsApp may be restricted, and the service quickly gained millions of users after it was introduced last year. But citing classified American intelligence, The New York Times reported last month that the service was used by the UAE “to try to track every conversation, movement, relationship, appointment, sound and image of those who install it on their phones.”
The Times reported that the company behind the app was “most likely…