The TikTok video sharing app icon is seen on a smartphone on February 28. British authorities mentioned on Thursday they’re banning the usage of the Chinese language app on authorities cellphones for safety causes.
Matt Slocum/AP
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Matt Slocum/AP
The TikTok video sharing app icon is seen on a smartphone on February 28. British authorities mentioned on Thursday they’re banning the usage of the Chinese language app on authorities cellphones for safety causes.
Matt Slocum/AP
LONDON — British authorities mentioned Thursday they’re banning Chinese language video-sharing app TikTok from utilizing authorities cellphones for safety causes, following related strikes by the US and the European Union.
Cupboard Minister Oliver Dowden informed Parliament that the ban applies to work telephones and different units utilized by ministers and civil servants. He known as the ban a “precautionary measure” and mentioned it didn’t apply to non-public telephones and units.
“Given the actual danger related to authorities units which will comprise delicate info, it’s cheap and proportionate to restrict the usage of sure purposes, particularly in terms of purposes that may retailer and entry massive quantities of knowledge,” Dowden mentioned. British legislators.
Final month, the US authorities instructed federal company officers to take away TikTok from all government-issued cellular units. Congress, the White Home, the US navy, and greater than half of the US states have already banned the app.
The European Union, Belgium and different nations have additionally quickly banned the usage of the app on worker telephones.
The strikes had been prompted by rising considerations that TikTok’s guardian firm, ByteDance, could be sharing consumer knowledge equivalent to shopping historical past and site with the Chinese language authorities or selling propaganda and disinformation on its behalf.
The corporate insists such considerations are primarily based on “misinformation” and mentioned it’s taking steps to strengthen the safety of consumer knowledge from the UK and Europe.
“We imagine these bans are primarily based on elementary misconceptions and pushed by broader geopolitics during which TikTok and our tens of millions of customers within the UK play no function,” the corporate mentioned. “We stay dedicated to working with the federal government to resolve any points, however we ought to be judged on the information and handled equally with our opponents.”
On Thursday, China accused the USA of spreading misinformation and cracking down on TikTok following studies that the Biden administration was urging Chinese language homeowners of the short-video service to promote their stakes within the in style app.
Final 12 months, the British Parliament closed its TikTok account, which was aimed toward a youthful viewers, simply days after it launched after considerations had been raised by lawmakers.
