Government Prohibiting TikTok Increases, Most Recently Scottish Parliament

JAKARTA - Countries around the world have taken action against TikTok social media applications due to user security and privacy concerns. This week, certain countries are also taking the same action by banning the use of TikTok in their territory.

One of the countries that banned TikTok was Scotland and also New Zealand. On Friday 17 March, members of the Scottish Parliament and staff were told to remove TikTok from their devices due to security concerns. The move comes after concerns that the app could allow personal data collection and sensitive information by unauthorized parties.

Previously, other countries such as India and the United States also banned TikTok due to similar concerns. Even the Government of India took this action in 2020 because it was considered a national security threat.

Meanwhile in the United States, former president Donald Trump ordered the ban on TikTok, which was later overturned by the court. But since the past month, a number of US states have banned TikTok from being used on government officials. Even the Senate has given its views on the ban nationally, which is still awaiting a decision from US President Joe Biden.

However, several other countries such as the UK and Australia have taken more soft action by asking TikTok to increase user security and privacy. In Australia, communication and media regulators announced in January that they would monitor TikTok after concerns arose about user data security.

The UK has also banned TikTok from being used on government devices. But ministers can still use TikTok on their personal devices.

Although TikTok has taken action to increase user security and privacy, concerns about the app are still ongoing. What's more, this concern is increasing as TikTok is a very popular platform among young people around the world.

In this context, other countries are likely to take similar measures such as Scotland in protecting their users' data and privacy. With increased awareness about data security and privacy, social media applications such as TikTok will continue to be under scrutiny and evaluation by governments and regulators around the world.