In light of the raging criticism he faces Tik Tok In the United States and elsewhere, especially in Europe, due to its association with the Chinese government, the French government plans to ask its ministers to avoid using TikTok and similar applications on their personal phones.
Two people with direct knowledge of the discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that the French government is considering the guidelines in part over security concerns with the Chinese-owned social media app, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
It should be noted that social media applications such as TikTok are already banned on the phones of professional ministers.
Immediate ban in the UK
This comes as the United Kingdom announced earlier Thursday the immediate ban on the TikTok application on government agencies, due to security concerns.
“We are going to ban the use of TikTok on government agencies,” Minister of State Oliver Dowden, whose portfolio includes cybersecurity, told Parliament, and this would be done with “immediate effect”.
He also added that the matter is a “preventive” measure, adding: “We know that there is already limited use of TikTok within the framework of the government, but it is a good electronic hygiene.”
“a large amount of data”
He also explained that “given the special risks associated with government agencies that may contain sensitive information, it is wise and appropriate to restrict the use of certain applications,” especially those that access and store “a large amount of data.”
He stressed that this approach, “which is based on specific risks related to government agencies”, comes after similar bans taken by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Final warning to ByteDance
It is noteworthy that China had urged the United States on Wednesday to stop “unprovoked attacks” on Tik Tokafter the US government asked the Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to give up its shares in the application, or face a ban on national security grounds.
And the White House issued an ultimatum stating that if TikTok remains owned by the Chinese “ByteDance” group, it will be banned in the United States, according to the “Wall Street Journal” and other American newspapers.
While TikTok confirmed to France Press that the US government had requested that the owner of the application abandon it.
“no clues”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told the press on Wednesday that Washington “has not yet provided evidence that TikTok threatens the national security of the United States,” adding: “The United States should stop spreading false information on data security issues, and stop unprovoked attacks ( against TikTok) and provide an open, fair, appropriate and non-discriminatory work environment” for foreign companies.
It is noteworthy that critics of the application, which enables the sharing of short videos, which is very popular among young people, accuse it of giving the Chinese authorities access to user data around the world, which Tik Tok denies.
