The application suffers a wave of rejections by Western governments. Stanislas Guerini, CEO of the platform, denied ties to the Chinese government.
TikTok It is in the eye of the storm after the decision of several European governments to ban the application on government devices. Now, France joins the long list for fear of espionage problems and improper access to sensitive data.
the french government vetoed “leisure” applications, including the Chinese short video platform. Previously, the parliament and the European Union made the same decision based on the recommendation of specialists, who developed a list of applications that can be considered dangerous.
According to sources close to the French Minister of Civil Service, Stanislas Guerini, apps like TikTok feature “risks in terms of cybersecurity and data protection of public agents and the administration”.
The decision by the French government came after the CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, to testify in the United States Congress over fears in Washington that the company has ties to the Chinese government and affects national security. “I haven’t seen any evidence” of Beijing’s access to the app’s user data, he replied, adding that he has never had discussions with Chinese government officials in his capacity as CEO.
As an official reason, for the French Executive Power the devices “they do not offer sufficient levels of cybersecurity and data protection” to use and download TikTok. Only officials with exceptional cases and a justification approved by the Government may use these applications.
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boom. In recent times, Tik Tok has become one of the most popular applications in the world.
Which countries banned TikTok
In addition to Francethere is already a long list of governments that have banned TikTok in recent weeks:
- New Zealand: This is the latest country on the list to ban TikTok on government devices starting next month. In this way, legislators will not be able to use the application, due to “the risks” of the data being in the hands of the Chinese government.
- Netherlands joined the government list that prohibits the use of TikTok on government devices in another move against the popular Chinese platform in the West based on fears that it has access to sensitive data.
- United Kingdom: also announced the ban on the use of TikTok on government devices due to possible data theft by the application, in line with the measures adopted by the European Parliament and the United States. “We will do this with immediate effect,” said Cabinet Minister Oliver Dowden.
- European Parliament: Two weeks ago, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsolaand the general secretary Alessandro Chiocchettithey decided that TikTok should not be used or remain installed on personal devices such as mobile phones, tablets or computers laptops starting March 20.
- Denmark: In this case, the Defense Minister urged his workers to uninstall the application on mobile devices for “security reasons.”
- Canada: The Canadian government announced a ban on the TikTok app on mobile devices it provides to its staff, citing “an unacceptable level of risk” to privacy and security.
- India: The country of 1.4 billion people was one of the first to ban TikTok: in 2020 it banned a list of Chinese apps over privacy and security concerns.
Source: Ambito
