TikTok Faces Another Ban, EU Bodies Direct Staff to Remove App Citing Security Reasons
4 min read
[ad_1]
The European Union’s two greatest policy-producing institutions have banned TikTok from team phones for cybersecurity reasons, marking growing problems about the Chinese small video clip-sharing application and its users’ knowledge.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is underneath scrutiny from governments and regulators since of concerns that China’s federal government could use its app to harvest users’ details or progress its pursuits.
EU sector main Thierry Breton, who announced a ban by the European Fee, declined to say no matter if the Commission experienced been matter to any incidents involving TikTok.
An formal also said on Thursday that workers at the EU Council, which brings collectively reps of the member states to set policy priorities, would also have to un-put in TikTok from their personal phones with entry to EU Council solutions.
Responding to the announcement, Tiktok mentioned it was unhappy and amazed that the Commission had not attained out prior to instituting the ban.
The US Senate in December passed a monthly bill to bar federal employees from making use of TikTok on governing administration-owned units. TikTok is banned in India.
The EU executive Commission mentioned in a assertion that the decision would utilize to work and private phones and products.
“To increase its cybersecurity, the Commission’s Company Management Board has made the decision to suspend the use of the TikTok application on its company equipment and on private gadgets enrolled in the Fee cell machine company,” it claimed in a statement.
“This measure aims to secure the Fee from cybersecurity threats and steps which could be exploited for cyber-attacks against the company setting of the Fee,” it additional.
A spokesperson for TikTok said it experienced not been contacted specifically by the Commission, nor supplied any rationalization for its conclusion.
“We believe this suspension is misguided and based on basic misconceptions. We have contacted the Commission to established the report straight and make clear how we guard the data of the 125 million persons throughout the EU who arrive to TikTok each and every month,” the spokesperson stated.
The European Parliament reported it was knowledgeable of the Commission’s action and that it was in contact with it.
“Appropriate expert services are also checking and evaluating all attainable information breaches relevant to the application and will take into account the European Commission analysis prior to formulating tips to European Parliament authorities,” a spokesperson explained.
The Commission said security developments at other social media platforms would also be held underneath constant evaluation.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
For aspects of the most current launches and news from Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo and other firms at the Cell Globe Congress in Barcelona, pay a visit to our MWC 2023 hub.
[ad_2]
Source url On Friday, the European Union (EU) announced that its staff have been directed to remove the popular Chinese-owned social media application, TikTok, from devices used by EU bodies due to security concerns. This follows several other high-profile bans of the app throughout the world.
TikTok, launched in 2016, has quickly become one of the world’s most popular social media platforms and is used by hundreds of millions of people globally. Although the app has remained popular, its share of controversy, particularly due to data privacy and censorship allegations, has led to speculation over its future.
Most recently, the EU has directed staff to delete the app from their devices citing potential security worries. This follows China’s National Security Law, which has raised fears of data being accessed without a lawful basis by Chinese authorities. The EU has strongly condemned the law, stating that it could undermine the autonomy of Hong Kong and the protection of human rights.
It is unclear how much this ban of the app in EU institutions may impact the app’s overall user base, however, it is not the first time countries have sought to restrict access to the platform in recent months. In June 2020, India issued a ban on the app citing security reasons, and the app’s usage in the United States was briefly restricted after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in August.
The implications of this ban remain to be seen. Critics of the ban argue that it is an unjustified attack on a popular service, while those in support of it point to the potential security concerns to data privacy by Chinese interests. For now, it appears the future of TikTok, both within the EU and around the world, remains uncertain.
