If it’s up to D66, ChristenUnie and the Party for the Animals, TikTok will be banned from the House of Representatives today. The parties are calling on other parliamentary factions to stop using the popular app until all security issues surrounding the platform are resolved, they write in a letter to the House.
Research by BNR has shown that it is possible to spread disinformation and personal information through paid TikTok advertising, and this has gone in the wrong direction with several MPs. Q66 MP Hind Abdulaziz-Dekker calls the disclosure of the BNR “impossible”. “It’s shocking that users can get potential misinformation and hate in their history,” he writes in the letter to the House. “No political party should be using TikTok as long as the problems continue.”
Abdulaziz-Dekker therefore believes that TikTok itself should pay more attention. “They also say they have some kind of platform where they check before something like this is published. Apparently that doesn’t happen. In any case, they should provide more transparency about it,” he told BNR previously. other social media platforms have such a committee on a moderation team. This will soon be required by the Digital Services Act. So it’s really a good thing if it’s organised. They should be more transparent about it.”
Longer under fire
TikTok has long been under fire due to security issues. Last week, the European Commission banned the app from work phones, because it “would put the cybersecurity of more than 30,000 civil servants at risk”. D66, ChristenUnie and PvdD would rather see a similar ban. ‘TikTok is rapidly losing its ‘license to operate’ in this way and apparently our great concerns are justified. Spreading disinformation and inciting hatred does not fit into an election campaign and TikTok therefore does not fit,” said PvdD MP Lammert van Raan.
He is supported by his ChristenUnie colleague Nico Drost, who says the BNR investigation makes it clear that “our data is not safe” and that “TikTok is unwilling to ward off misinformation and the spread of hate”.
Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
