Britain said on Thursday it would ban TikTok on government phones with immediate effect, a move that follows other Western countries who have barred the Chineseowned video app over security concerns.

Now Britain bans TikTok on government phones due to security concerns

Febin MathewMarch 17, 23 Security, TikTok, UK

LONDON: Britain said on Thursday it would ban TikTok from state phones immediately, following other Western countries that have banned the Chinese-owned video app over security concerns.

“The security of sensitive government data must be a priority, so today we are banning this app from government devices. The use of other apps that harvest data will be monitored,” government minister Oliver Dowden said in a statement.

TikTok has come under increasing scrutiny amid fears that user data on the app, owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance, could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, undermining Western security interests.

The UK government had asked the National Cyber Security Center to look into the potential vulnerability of government data on social media apps and the risks associated with accessing and using sensitive information.

The United States, Canada, Belgium and the European Commission have already banned the app from official devices.

“Restricting the use of TikTok on government devices is a sensible and proportionate step in line with the advice of our cyber security experts,” Dowden said.

TikTok said it was disappointed by the decision and had already taken steps to further protect European users’ data.

“We believe these bans have been based on fundamental misunderstandings and have been driven by wider geopolitics that TikTok and our millions of users in the UK do not participate in,” a TikTok spokesperson said.

“We remain committed to working with the government to resolve any concerns, but we must be judged on the facts and treated equally with our competitors.”

Dowden said that Parliament’s government devices would now only be able to access third-party apps from a pre-approved list.

The TikTok ban does not apply to the personal devices of government employees or ministers, and there would be limited exceptions where TikTok is required on government devices for work purposes, he added.

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