The French government has banned its officials this Friday from installing the Chinese social network app TikTok and other “leisure” apps on their professional phones for security reasons, as other countries and institutions in Europe have done. “These applications may pose a risk to the data protection of administrations and their public agents,” the Ministry of Transformation and Public Functions explained in a statement.
The European Commission has banned its workers from posting TikTok
Further
The executive has detailed that the decision has been made after an analysis in which the challenges they pose have been taken into account. In practical terms, it is not possible to download or install recreational applications such as popular Chinese social networks on the professional mobile phones provided by the Administration to its workers. The reason is that “they do not offer a sufficient level of cybersecurity and data protection” to allow use on these computers, although the Ministry points out that a reduction from this ban may be granted “on an exceptional basis” if justified “by the need for professionals” such as institutional communications.
The French authorities’ decision is one taken by different Western governments or the European Commission in response to concerns raised by Chinese laws requiring companies to submit personal data when they consider that it is justified for reasons of national security. France is actually the fourth EU country to make this decision, which has also been adopted by the European Commission after the US redoubled pressure on Chinese applications.
In Denmark, the Ministry of Defense banned TikTok for its employees on official phones on March 6. In Latvia, on March 2, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs imposed a ban on the use of applications on electronic work devices. The UK did the same on March 16, when it banned TikTok on official government phones for security reasons. In the Netherlands, office phones received by government officials will be configured in such a way that only pre-approved apps can be installed, avoiding “espionage-sensitive” ones like social network TikTok since last Wednesday.
Pressure in the US
The US banned TikTok from official phones months ago and is now considering demanding that the company cut all ties with China if it wants to continue operating in the country. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew attended a special session with members of the US congress on Thursday and warned them that vetoing the platform in the country would hurt the economy and freedom of expression.
“This is an app where people can be creative. There are nearly five million American businesses, most of them small, that use it to find customers and enhance their growth,” he told the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives, where he recalled that there were about 150 million users in the US. . Chew has met bilaterally with several lawmakers this year to stress the company offers guarantees of privacy and security, but this is his first official appearance on Capitol Hill.
Chew recalls that he is Singaporean and a resident of Singapore, that TikTok is run by an executive team in the US and Singapore, is headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore, and is not available in mainland China. He said he was aware, however, that the fact that his parent company, ByteDance, has a Chinese founder has raised suspicions about whether its platform could be used or be a tool of China or the Chinese Communist Party. But “ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government. This is a private company. I have no proof that the China Executive has access to that data. They never asked us,” he said.
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