Chinese app TikTok is set to be banned on phones and other devices used by government ministers and civil servants on security grounds.
There has been no official comment – but Security Minister Tom Tugendhat had asked the National Cyber Security Centre to review the issue.
UK government ministers have come under pressure from senior MPs to follow the United States and the European Commission in banning the app. The US banned TikTok from official devices in December, and the Commission followed suit last month. Canada, Belgium and India have taken similar action.
China has accused the US of spreading disinformation and suppressing TikTok amid reports the White House wants its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the firm.
Earlier this week, the prime minister said the UK would “look at what our allies are doing”.
TikTok said bans had been based on “misplaced fears and seemingly driven by wider geopolitics”, adding it would be “disappointed by such a move” in the UK.
It has said it does not share data with Chinese officials, but Chinese intelligence laws requires firms to help the Communist Party when requested. Critics fear the policy could expose data on devices used by political leaders and officials to Beijing.
The UK Parliament closed its TikTok account last August. The Downing Street TikTok page has not been updated since Boris Johnson left office in September last year, but others including the MoD and Energy Secretary Grant Shapps, have updated their pages more recently.
Ministry of Defence (MoD) uploaded a video of a Challenger 2 tank, a type being supplied to Ukraine, to its account this morning. The MoD told the BBC it would continue to use TikTok among a “wide range of digital channels… to promote the work of the Armed Forces and to communicate our support to Ukraine”.
“Robust processes are in place to ensure our devices are secure, including managing risks from third party applications. Our most sensitive information is held on a separate system,” a spokesperson added.
The growth of TikTok has been explosive with 3.5 billion downloads worldwide.
It records how long you watch a particular video for, which ones you comment on or favourite. If you have an account, it also knows your age, your location and your device, and it even monitors your typing rhythms. Its cookies track your activity elsewhere on the net.
It is true that other huge social networks do the same thing.
But they are US-based and n the case of TikTok, we have occasionally seen what appears to be the hand of Beijing on the shoulder of Chinese parent company ByteDance.
A handful of Western journalists were found to have been tracked by ByteDance employees. ByteDance says they were fired.
A US TikTokker shared a video criticising the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uighur Muslims, and it was taken down. TikTok said this was a mistake.
This has added to the nervousness of governments and security specialists – despite the firm’s consistent denials.
The Chinese state demands loyalty from all businesses based in the country and nobody really knows to what extent ByteDance might be pushed to comply with demands for data.
(Source: BBC)
(Image: TikTok)
