February 25, 2023 Updated: February 25, 2023
A smartphone with a
displayed TikTok logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration
taken on Feb. 23, 2023. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)
The Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok has been banned in the two biggest policy-making institutions of the European Union over concerns about cybersecurity and promotion of Beijing’s agenda overseas.
TikTok, which is owned by
Chinese company ByteDance, has been widely criticized for its toxic content and
is banned by several countries as well as 25 U.S. states, over concerns about
data sharing with Beijing and promotion of the Chinese Communist Party’s
agenda.
EU industry chief Thierry
Breton, who announced the ban by the European
Commission, declined to say whether the commission had been subject to any
incidents involving TikTok.
The move comes as China
and the West are more evidently locked into a tug-of-war ranging from spy
balloons to computer-chip production.
The EU executive
Commission said in a statement that the decision would apply 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,” it 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 added.
TikTok said it was
disappointed with the ban.
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.
In Norway, which is not a
member of the 27-nation EU, the justice minister was forced to apologize this
month for failing to disclose that she had installed TikTok on her
government-issued phone.
TikTok also has come
under pressure from the EU to comply with upcoming new digital regulations
aimed at getting big online platforms to clean up toxic and illegal content
along with the bloc’s strict data privacy rules.
Other
Bans
TikTok and dozens of
other Chinese apps were banned in India in June 2020, over concerns about their
potential harm to the country’s security and integrity.
Taiwan banned TikTok and
some other Chinese apps on state-owned devices and in December 2022 launched a
probe into the social media app over suspected illegal operations on the
island.
The U.S. Congress passed
a bill in December 2022 to ban TikTok on federal devices. The bill is yet to be
signed off on by President Joe Biden.
Boise State University,
University of Oklahoma, University of Texas-Austin, and West Texas A&M
University are some of the schools that have banned TikTok on university
devices and Wi-Fi networks.
Texas, Maryland, Alabama,
and Utah are among over 25 states that have issued orders to staff against
using TikTok on government devices.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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