British government ministers have been banned from using the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok on their work phones and devices on security grounds.
The government fears that sensitive data on government phones could be accessed by the Chinese government.
Cabinet minister Oliver Dowden said the ban was a “precautionary” measure but would take effect immediately.
TikTok has strongly denied allegations that it gives users’ data to the Chinese government.
Theo Bertram, Apple’s vice president of government relations and public policy in Europe, told JEE News he believed the decision was based “more on geopolitics than anything else”.
“We asked people to judge on facts and not on their fears,” he added.
The Chinese embassy in London said the move was motivated by “politics rather than facts” and would “undermine the confidence of the international community in the UK’s business environment”.
Mr Dowden said he would not advise the public against using TikTok, but they should always “consider the data policies of each social media platform before downloading and using”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was under pressure from senior MPs to follow the US and EU in banning the video-sharing app from official government devices.
But government departments – and individual ministers – have embraced TikTok as a way to get their message across to young people.
App usage has exploded in recent years, with 3.5 billion downloads worldwide.
Its success comes from how easy it is to record short videos with music and fun filters, but also from its algorithm that is good at serving up videos that appeal to individual users.
It is able to do this because it collects a lot of information about users – including their age, location, device and even their typing rhythm – while it places cookies on the Internet and tracks their activity. she does.
US-based social media sites do as well, but TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance has faced claims of influence from Beijing.
Downing Street – which last posted a TikTok video of Larry the Cat predicting football results – said it would continue to use TikTok to get the government’s message across. It said there are exceptions to the ban in certain circumstances.
Even some politicians are reluctant to kick the TikTok habit despite safety warnings.
Cabinet minister Grant Shepps – an ardent ticker – reacted to the ban by posting a clip from the film, The Wolf of Wall Street, in which Leonardo DiCaprio plays a New York stockbroker, using a serial does and announces: “The show’s on.”
Mr Shaps called the ban “sensible”, but added: “I have never used TikTok on official devices and can confirm that I am not leaving TikTok anytime soon. Go!”
Ministers are not banned from using the site on their personal phones – only their work devices.
But Nadine Dorries – who experimented with TikTok videos when she was culture secretary – said she would delete the app from her personal phone, adding: “I think all MPs should do the same. should do.”
