JAKARTA - After the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), now it is Belgium's turn to ban TikTok from government phones due to concerns about cyber security, privacy, and misinformation.
Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said via his official website that the China-based video-sharing app ByteDance would temporarily be banned from devices owned or paid by the Belgian federal government for at least six months.
De Croo added that the Belgian national security board had warned about the risks associated with the large amount of data collected by TikTok, and the facts in which the company was required to cooperate with China's intelligence services.
"That's the reality, (and) why it makes sense to ban the use of TikTok on phones provided by the federal government. Our information security must be prioritized," de Croo said.
The ban, according to de Croo, is based on warnings from its state security services and cybersecurity centers, where the app can retrieve user data and change algorithms to manipulate news feed as well as its content.
Just like the US government, de Croo warned TikTok could be forced into spying for Beijing. "We are in a new geopolitical context where influence and inter-state surveillance have shifted to the digital world," de Croo said.
"We must not be naive. TikTok is a Chinese company that is currently required to cooperate with the intelligence service. This is the reality. Prohibiting its use on federal service devices is something that makes sense," he added.
In response to De Croo's move, TikTok is disappointed with this suspension, which is based on a misinformation about its company, as quoted by NBC News, Monday, March 13.
"(We) are willing to meet with officials to address any issues and straighten out misunderstandings," said TikTok.
TikTok itself has moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020. The company is trying to distance itself from Chinese roots and points to new measures to ease concerns by storing user data in European data centers.
"The Chinese government cannot force other sovereign countries to provide data stored in the country's territory," TikTok explained.
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