Following US Footsteps, European Union Commission Bans TikTok from Use on Employees' Cellphones

JAKARTA - Following the lead of the United States (US), the European Union Commission (EU) also issued a mandate to ban its staff from using TikTok due to cybersecurity concerns.

The move underscores the growing tensions between the West and China. These rules apply to EU Commission-authorized devices as well as employees' personal devices if they have work-related applications installed.

"The move is aimed at protecting the commission against cybersecurity threats and actions, which could be exploited for cyberattacks against the commission's corporate environment," said EU commission spokeswoman Sonya Gospodinova.

This is the first time the commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has banned its staff from using the Chinese giant ByteDance's app.

Gospodinova said the EU Commission has about 32.000 permanent and contract employees. They should take down TikTok as soon as possible and by March 15th.

For those who don't meet the set deadline, corporate apps, such as commission email and Skype for Business will no longer be available on their phone.

In response to this, TikTok stated that the EU Commission's decision was based on wrong ideas about its platform, as quoted by BBC International, Friday, 24 February.

"We are disappointed by this decision, which we believe is misguided and based on a fundamental misunderstanding," a TikTok spokesperson said.

Apart from social media, ByteDance has also faced increasing Western scrutiny in recent months over concerns about how much access China has to user data. Last year, TikTok admitted some staff in China could access European users' data.

The EU Commission is not alone, the US government also banned TikTok earlier last year on federally issued devices due to national security concerns.

The US is concerned that the Chinese government may use TikTok to access the device and user data for nefarious purposes.

TikTok, which has 125 million users in the EU, said it was working to improve user data security there, with plans to open two more European data centers to allay data privacy fears.

Apart from social media, ByteDance has also faced increasing Western scrutiny in recent months over concerns about how much access China has to user data. Last year, TikTok admitted some staff in China could access European users' data.

The EU Commission is not alone, the US government also banned TikTok earlier last year on federally issued devices due to national security concerns.

The US is concerned that the Chinese government may use TikTok to access the device and user data for nefarious purposes.

TikTok, which has 125 million users in the EU, said it was working to improve user data security there, with plans to open two more European data centers to allay data privacy fears.