UK bans TikTok on government devices

The move reflects fears in Britain and elsewhere in the West that Chinese ownership of the popular app could share user information with Beijing.< /p>
On Thursday, Britain became the latest Western country to ban the use of TikTok on "government devices", citing security fears related to the ownership of the video-sharing app by a Chinese company.
Speaking in Parliament, Oliver Dowden, a senior cabinet minister, announced the ban with immediate effect, calling it a "precaution", even though the United States, the executive arm of the European Union, Canada and India had already taken similar measures. New Zealand did so on Friday.
Social media applications collect and store "huge amounts of user data, including contacts, user content and geolocation data on government devices, that data can be sensitive," Dowden said, but TikTok has drawn more suspicion than most because of its owner, Chinese company ByteDance.
Britain's actions reflect fears expressed in a variety of Western governments that TikTok could share sensitive data from devices used by politicians and senior officials with the government in Beijing.
The ban announced on Thursday follows a toughening of politics in Britain. On Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described China as a "historic challenge" to the international order.
The new instruction only applies to official business phones from government officials. , and it was described by Mr. Dowden as a proportionate approach to address a potential vulnerability in government data.
TikTok has long insisted that it does not does not transmit information to the Chinese government. In a statement on Thursday, TikTok said it was disappointed with the UK government's decision, saying the bans imposed on it were "based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by broader geopolitics". She added that she was taking steps to protect UK user data.
In the United States, the White House told federal agencies on February 27 that they had 30 days to remove the app from government devices. More than two dozen states have banned TikTok on government-issued devices, and a significant number of universities have blocked it on campus Wi-Fi networks. The app was banned for three years on US government devices used by the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.
On Wednesday, TikTok said the Biden administration was toughening its stance on addressing national security concerns, telling the company it should sell the app or face a possible ban.
Several UK government departments have TikTok accounts as part of their public outreach, including the country's Ministry of Defense as recently as a day ago , Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said the app was safe for Britons.
" As far as the general public is concerned, it is absolutely a personal choice, but since we have the protection laws stringent data in the world, we are confident the public can continue to use,” she told lawmakers in parliament.
China has featured prominently in an updated security review published by the government, although Mr Sunak's tough language did not satisfy all the hawks in his Tory party, including one of its former leaders, Iain Duncan Smith.
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Duncan Smith questioned whether the UK government officially views China as a threat, and on Thursday, while welcoming the action against TikTok, he called for the ban to be extended to private devices owned by government officials.
This follows a decision by China in December to

Technology Mar 20, 2023 0 98 Add to Reading List

The move reflects fears in Britain and elsewhere in the West that Chinese ownership of the popular app could share user information with Beijing.< /p>

On Thursday, Britain became the latest Western country to ban the use of TikTok on "government devices", citing security fears related to the ownership of the video-sharing app by a Chinese company.

Speaking in Parliament, Oliver Dowden, a senior cabinet minister, announced the ban with immediate effect, calling it a "precaution", even though the United States, the executive arm of the European Union, Canada and India had already taken similar measures. New Zealand did so on Friday.

Social media applications collect and store "huge amounts of user data, including contacts, user content and geolocation data on government devices, that data can be sensitive," Dowden said, but TikTok has drawn more suspicion than most because of its owner, Chinese company ByteDance.

Britain's actions reflect fears expressed in a variety of Western governments that TikTok could share sensitive data from devices used by politicians and senior officials with the government in Beijing.

The ban announced on Thursday follows a toughening of politics in Britain. On Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described China as a "historic challenge" to the international order.

The new instruction only applies to official business phones from government officials. , and it was described by Mr. Dowden as a proportionate approach to address a potential vulnerability in government data.

TikTok has long insisted that it does not does not transmit information to the Chinese government. In a statement on Thursday, TikTok said it was disappointed with the UK government's decision, saying the bans imposed on it were "based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by broader geopolitics". She added that she was taking steps to protect UK user data.

In the United States, the White House told federal agencies on February 27 that they had 30 days to remove the app from government devices. More than two dozen states have banned TikTok on government-issued devices, and a significant number of universities have blocked it on campus Wi-Fi networks. The app was banned for three years on US government devices used by the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

On Wednesday, TikTok said the Biden administration was toughening its stance on addressing national security concerns, telling the company it should sell the app or face a possible ban.

Several UK government departments have TikTok accounts as part of their public outreach, including the country's Ministry of Defense as recently as a day ago , Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said the app was safe for Britons.

" As far as the general public is concerned, it is absolutely a personal choice, but since we have the protection laws stringent data in the world, we are confident the public can continue to use,” she told lawmakers in parliament.

China has featured prominently in an updated security review published by the government, although Mr Sunak's tough language did not satisfy all the hawks in his Tory party, including one of its former leaders, Iain Duncan Smith.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Duncan Smith questioned whether the UK government officially views China as a threat, and on Thursday, while welcoming the action against TikTok, he called for the ban to be extended to private devices owned by government officials.

This follows a decision by China in December to