Last Update: February 24, 2023, 09:00 IST
TikTok is now facing security concerns in the European Union
The European Commission has banned Chinese short video sharing app TikTok from the corporate phones of its employees for cyber security reasons.
BRUSSELS: The European Commission has banned Chinese short video-sharing app TikTok from its employees’ corporate phones for cyber security reasons, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on Thursday, the first EU institution to do so.
Owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, TikTok is under scrutiny from governments and regulators as China’s government may use its app to harvest users’ data or advance its own interests.
Breton, who announced the move at a press conference in Brussels, declined to say whether the commission was subject to any incidents involving TikTok.
Reacting to the announcement, TikTok said it was disappointed and surprised that the commission did not get in touch before imposing the ban.
In 2022, the US Senate passed a bill in December to prevent federal employees from using TikTok on government-owned equipment. Tiktok is banned in India.
The EU executive said in a statement that the decision would apply to both work and personal phones and devices.
“In order to enhance its cyber security, the Commission’s Corporate Management Board has decided to suspend the use of the TikTok application on its corporate devices and personal devices enrolled in the Commission’s Mobile Device Service,” the commission said in a statement.
“The purpose of this measure is to protect the Commission from cyber security threats and actions that could be used to launch cyber attacks against the corporate environment of the Commission,” it said.
A spokesperson for TikTok said the commission has not contacted it directly or provided any explanation for its decision.
The spokesperson said, “We believe this suspension is wrong and based on fundamental misunderstandings. We have contacted the Commission to correct the records and explain how we protect the data of those 125 million people in the EU who come on Tiktok every month.”
The European Parliament said it was aware of the Commission’s action and was in contact with it.
“The relevant services are monitoring and evaluating all possible data breaches related to the app and will consider the European Commission’s assessment before preparing recommendations to European Parliament officials,” a spokesperson said.
The commission said that security developments on other social media platforms will also be continuously reviewed.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)