European Commission bans TikTok from work mobiles citing ‘cybersecurity concerns’

TikTok said the ban is ‘misguided’ and based on ‘misconceptions’
FILES-EU-CHINA-MEDIA-INTERNET-TIK TOK
TikTok is a short video-sharing app
AFP via Getty Images
Miriam Burrell23 February 2023

The European Commission has banned TikTok from staff phones over cybersecurity fears

EU industry chief Thierry Breton announced the ban on employee corporate devices on Thursday.

The EU Council will also ban the video sharing app on phones, an EU official announced later .

However TikTok said the suspension was “misguided” and based on “fundamental misconceptions”.

Owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, video-sharing app Tiktok is under scrutiny from governments and regulators because of concerns that China’s government could use its app to harvest users’ data or advance its interests.

Mr Breton, who announced the move at a news conference in Brussels, declined to say whether the Commission had been subject to any incidents involving TikTok.

FILE PHOTO: European Commissioners Vestager and Breton hold a news conference in Brussels
European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton
REUTERS

In response Tiktok said it was disappointed and surprised that the Commission had not reached out before imposing the ban.

In 2022 the US Senate in December passed a bill to bar federal employees from using TikTok on government-owned devices. TikTok is also banned in India.

The EU executive said in a statement that the decision would apply both 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,” the Commission said in a statement.

“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,” it said.

A spokesperson for TikTok said it had not been contacted directly by the Commission, nor offered any explanation for its decision.

“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,” the spokesperson said.

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 ban comes just weeks after a senior Tory MP urged Britons to delete the TikTok app from their mobile phones.

Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, told Sky News that users should “without question” get rid of the app as she suggested the video-sharing platform is linked to China’s efforts to build a “tech totalitarian state”.

Her comments were made after the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon.

In December, TikTok executive Liz Kanter insisted the platform has not been asked for UK user data by the Chinese government and would not provide it if it was.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in