TIKTOK BANNED ON BRITISH GOVERNMENT PHONES
Governments across North America and Europe are closing down on TikTok.
The Chinese app has been banned on government phones in the UK, Canada, the United States and the European Union.
The reason? Several Western countries are concerned about security. The video app is owned by a Chinese firm.
In a statement released by UK Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden, the UK government has said that government information takes top priority.
“The security of sensitive government information must come first, so today we are banning this app on government devices. The use of other data-extracting apps will be kept under review.”
News24 reports that TikTok has come under increasing scrutiny due to fears that user data from the app owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, undermining Western security interests.
Responding to the UK government's decision, TikTok said that it was disappointed with the decision. The app has already begun taking steps to do whatever is necessary to further protect user data in Europe.
“We believe these bans have been based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics, in which TikTok, and our millions of users in the UK, play no part,” a spokesperson for TikTok said.
Image credit: CNN