In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, NAAG sent a letter to the chief executive officers of Google and Apple asking them to ensure all contact tracing and exposure notification apps related to COVID-19 adequately protect consumers’ personal information. The attorneys general urged Google and Apple to take the following actions with respect to exposure notification and contact tracing apps available to U.S. consumers on Google Play and the App Store:
1. Verify that every app labeled or marketed as related to contact tracing, COVID-19 contact tracing, or coronavirus contact tracing or exposure notification is affiliated with a municipal, county, state, or federal public health authority, or a hospital or university in the U.S. that is working with such public health authorities;
2. Remove any app that cannot be verified consistent with the above; and
3. Pledge to remove all COVID-19/coronavirus related exposure notification and contact tracing apps, including those that utilize your new APIs, from Google Play and the App Store once the COVID-19 national emergency ends. In addition, provide written confirmation to our offices that the apps have been removed or an explanation why removal of a particular app or apps would impair the public health authorities affiliated with each app.
