For security reasons, ministers in the British government cannot use the social media app TikTok, which is owned by China, on their work phones and devices.
The government is concerned that the Chinese government could access sensitive data stored on official phones.
The ban, according to Cabinet Minister Oliver Dowden, was a “precautionary” move that would take effect immediately.
Allegations that TikTok gives the Chinese government access to user data have been categorically refuted.
The app’s vice president of government relations and public policy in Europe, Theo Bertram, told the BBC that the company believed the decision was based “more on geopolitics than anything else.”
He continued, “We asked to be judged not on the fears of people, but on the facts.”
The Chinese embassy in London stated that the move would “undermine the confidence of the international community in the UK’s business environment” and was motivated by politics “rather than facts.”
The public should always “consider each social media platform’s data policies before downloading and using them,” Mr. Dowden stated, but he would not discourage them from using TikTok.
Senior MPs had put pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to follow the US and EU and ban the video-sharing app from official government devices.
However, government departments and ministers alike have adopted TikTok as a means of communicating with younger people.
Utilization of the application has detonated as of late, with 3.5 billion downloads around the world.
Its algorithm, which is adept at serving up videos that are appealing to individual users, as well as its ease of use to record short videos with fun filters and music contribute to its success.
It is able to accomplish this because its cookies collect a great deal of information about users, including their age, location, device, and even their typing patterns.
Although ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, has been accused of being influenced by Beijing, other US-based social media platforms also do this.
Downing Street said it would continue to use TikTok to spread the government’s message, having previously shared a TikTok video of Larry the Cat predicting football outcomes. In some cases, it said, there were exceptions to the ban.
Despite security warnings, some politicians are also reluctant to give up their TikTok habit.
As a passionate TikTokker, cabinet minister Grant Shapps posted a clip from the movie Wolf of Wall Street in response to the ban, in which Leonardo DiCaprio, playing a New York stockbroker, uses a series of expletives and declares: The show continues.”
Mr Shapps referred to the boycott as “reasonable”, however added: ” I can declare that I will not be leaving TikTok in the near future! I have never used TikTok on government devices.
Only their work-related devices may be used by ministers, not their personal phones.
However, Nadine Dorries, who experimented with TikTok videos while she was culture secretary, stated that she would be removing the application from her personal phone and added, ” I think that every MP ought to do the same.”
TikTok says US threatens ban if China stake not sold
The US government says TikTok should be sold or else face a possible ban in the country.
The video-sharing app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is accused of posing a national security risk through data gathered from millions of users.
A request for a change in ownership, first reported in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), was confirmed to BBC News by TikTok.
The company said a forced sale would not change its data flows or access.
The White House has not yet responded to a BBC News request for comment.
For years American officials have raised concerns that data from the popular app could fall into the hands of the Chinese government.
According to the WSJ, US President Joe Biden’s administration wants ByteDance to divest itself of TikTok to create a clear break from China.
The newspaper said the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS), which oversees national security risks, unanimously recommended ByteDance divest from TikTok.
A spokesperson for TikTok said it did not dispute the WSJ’s reporting and confirmed it had been contacted by CFIUS.
However, the spokesperson said the reporting was overstated and it was not clear what “divestiture” meant in practice.
“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” the spokesperson said.
“The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems.”
A ban was first threatened under then-President Donald Trump in 2020.
However, Mr Biden’s administration has also taken a dim view of the social network.
TikTok hoovers up huge amounts of data on its users, similar to Instagram and Twitter.
It can take biometric data from users and has access to location data. The fear is the information could be passed to the Chinese government.
TikTok says it has undertaken an effort to move all US-based data to the US as part of an initiative it calls Project Texas.
The company has told BBC News it still plans to move forward with that plan.
Security minister asks cyber experts to investigate TikTok
Government cyber-security specialists have been asked by Home Office Minister Tom Tugendhat to investigate the threats posed by.
The minister told Times Radio that he would wait for evidence before making a decision, but he did not rule out the possibility of banning the social media app owned by China.
It comes just a day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that the United Kingdom would examine the US, EU, and Canadian bans on TikTok on government phones.
There have been claims that it gives the Chinese government access to user data.
The business insists that it operates in the same manner as other social media companies.
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