The UK government is preparing to ban government workers from downloading the app TikTok on their mobile phones for security reasons, British media reported today.
The app, which is particularly popular among young people, is accused by its critics of allowing Chinese authorities to access user data from around the world. TikTok denies this.
When asked about this during his recent visit to the US, the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that his government “takes device security seriously. We are also looking at what our allies are doing,” he added.
The Sunday Times reported over the weekend that cyber security experts had recommended the government ban the app.
The ultimatum
According to the Wall Street Journal and other American newspapers, Mr White House has put an ultimatum on the app: if TikTok remains owned by China’s ByteDance, it will be banned in the US.
It is the most dramatic development in a series of recent moves by US officials and lawmakers, who are concerned that TikTok will give information about American users of the app to the Chinese government. The app has more than 100 million users in the US.
It is also the first time that TikTok has been threatened with a ban in the US during the presidency of Joe Biden. Former President Donald Trump had also tried to ban the app in 2020, but his move was blocked by US courts.
Brooke Oberwetter, a TikTok spokeswoman, said the company was recently notified by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) that the app’s Chinese owners must sell their shares. Otherwise, TikTok may be banned in the US.
Washington “so far has not presented evidence that TikTok threatens US national security,” responded Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. “The US should stop spreading false information about data security issues, stop unwarranted attacks (against TikTok), and provide an open, fair, impartial and non-discriminatory trading environment” to foreign companies, he added.
The White House has already banned federal employees from having the app on their cellphones. Similar steps have been taken by the European Commission and the Government of Canada for their own employees.
Source: News Beast
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