European Union institutions ban TikTok from staff phones for cybersecurity
The two biggest policy-making institutions of the European Union have banned TikTok from staff phones for cybersecurity reasons. In turn, this marked growing concerns about the popular video platform and its users’ data.
Of course, TikTok is under scrutiny from governments and regulators. Concerns arise with regard to how China’s government could use its app to harvest users’ data or advance its interests.
Thierry Breton, EU industry chief, announced a ban by the European Commission. They declined to say whether the Commission had been subject to any incidents involving TikTok.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, an official said that EU Council staff would also have to un-install TikTok from their personal phones with access to EU Council services.
The EU executive Commission issued a statement about the decision, saying that it would apply to work and personal phones and devices.
“To increase its cybersecurity, the Commission’s Corporate Management Board has decided to suspend the use of the TikTok application on its corporate devices and on personal devices enrolled in the Commission mobile device service. This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyber-attacks against the corporate environment of the Commission.”
EU Executive Commission issues a statement
In addition, the European Parliament said it was aware of the Commission’s action and that it was in contact with it.
“Relevant services are also monitoring and assessing all possible data breaches related to the app and will consider the European Commission evaluation before formulating recommendations to European Parliament authorities,” a spokesperson said.
The Commission said security developments at other social media platforms would also be kept under constant review.
TikTok responds to the banning
On the other hand, the Chinese firm ByteDance-owned platform finally responded to the announcement. They expressed their disappointment and surprise at how the Commission had not reached out before instituting the ban.
A spokesperson for TikTok mentioned that they had not been contacted directly by the Commission and offered any explanation for the decision. They said,
“We believe this suspension is misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions. We have contacted the Commission to set the record straight and explain how we protect the data of the 125 million people across the EU who come to TikTok every month.”
TiktTok responds to the banning of their platform on EU
