UK bans TikTok from all government phones over spying capability

London: TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned social video sharing app, will be banned from British government phones used by ministers and public servants in response to growing concerns that users’ sensitive data could be accessed by the authorities in Beijing.

UK Cabinet Office minister, Oliver Dowden, said on Thursday (UK time) the move was a “precautionary” measure because of the app’s capability to collect and store huge amounts of people’s data which would potentially include sensitive government information.

The UK government has become the latest to ban Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from official government phones. Credit:Getty

The app has been banned on official devices in the US and Canada, while at least seven governments in Europe, as well as the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European parliament have restricted all or some of their staff from using the app on their phones.

It has been alleged that the social media app hands data from users to the Chinese government, although TikTok’s firm’s owner ByteDance, which has its headquarters in China, has strongly denied this.

Dowden said the ban would take immediate effect for all government devices, with phones and computers also only be able to apply third-party apps from a pre-approved list, a practice already in force in some departments but which will now be extended across the entire public service.

“The use of other data-extracting apps will be kept under review,” he said. “Restricting the use of TikTok on Government devices is a prudent and proportionate step following advice from our cybersecurity experts.”

Dowden said the ban would not extend to ministers’ and officials’ personal devices or to members of the public but said individuals should be aware of each social media platform’s data policies when considering downloading and using them.

The UK government’s announcement came just a day after the Biden administration threatened to ban TikTok from the US unless the app’s owners agreed to spin off their share of the social media platform. The ultimatum was made by a US multi-agency panel known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

TikTok, which allows users to create short videos, which often feature music in the background, has rapidly grown to more than 1 billion users worldwide. Its owner, ByteDance, was founded in China and has a large base in Beijing but is incorporated in the Cayman Islands. It is 60 per cent owned by global investors and has no member of the Chinese Communist Party on its board.

TikTok has said it would refuse to hand over data to the Chinese authorities, which can demand it under a 2017 security law. But in December, the company revealed its staff in the US and China had inappropriately obtained the data of users, including a Financial Times journalist, in order to analyse their location as part of an internal leaks investigation.

A high-level security review, examining privacy concerns about TikTok and other Chinese social media giants, will be handed to Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil in the coming weeks, following months of concern over Australian government departments having different policies on the use of the application on departmental devices.

In a statement on Thursday the company said it was disappointed by the UK move.

“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,” it said.

“We remain committed to working with the government to address any concerns but should be judged on facts and treated equally to our competitors.”

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