The British are thus following in the footsteps of, among others, the European Commission and the United States, both of which have imposed similar bans. Western governments are increasingly concerned about the security of the app and the issues surrounding TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance Ltd.
The US Congress already banned TikTok last year and the European Commission ordered its employees to remove the app from all government devices by March 15th. Flanders has also implemented measures. It’s important that all government employees are aware of the risks associated with using the app, authorities said. The Flemish Interior Minister calls on local authorities to do the same and ban TikTok on their employees’ work phones. Recently, the Belgian Minister of Justice issued a similar appeal for national government employees.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office declined to comment on the matter, which was previously reported by London Times.