Pressure is mounting on Rishi Sunak to impose a ban on parliamentarians using TikTok after government officials were advised to remove the app for security reasons.
Rishi Sunak is facing increasing calls to impose a ban on parliamentarians using TikTok after government officials were advised to remove the Chinese-owned app for security reasons.
Experts from GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Center recommended officials stop using the platform after identifying risks to sensitive information.
It follows similar moves by the White House, the European Union and Canada in recent months to clamp down on TikTok, which is owned by Bytedance.
Under the new proposals, government employees will be able to keep the video-sharing app on their personal phones, but will be discouraged from doing so, according to the Mail on Sunday.
However, several British lawmakers are prominent users of the app, including Energy Secretary Grant Shapps and former Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Rishi Sunak is facing increasing calls to impose a ban on parliamentarians using TikTok after government officials were advised to remove the Chinese-owned app for security reasons.
Several British lawmakers are prominent users of the app, including former Health Secretary Matt Hancock (pictured)
Last night, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, one of the few MPs sanctioned by the Chinese government, said: ‘Downing Street should immediately implement a ban on ministers using TikTok, just as a start.
Grant Shapps should take note.
Luke de Pulfordm, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, added: “This app is not just problematic for government officials and parliamentarians, nobody who cares about data privacy should be using it.”
“Aside from having to admit to censorship of Uyghur content, TikTok executives have not offered a guarantee that user data will not be accessed from China and by extension the Chinese Communist Party.
‘Those who have reverse-engineered the app have described it as ‘essentially Chinese government spyware’. It’s time to get rid.
Last week, TikTok pledged to strengthen controls over personal information in the app in Europe amid concerns that it could share user data with Beijing. (File Image)
Government employees will be allowed to keep the video-sharing app on their personal phones, but will be discouraged from doing so.
No 10 had initially resisted banning civil servants from using TikTok, suggesting it was a decision for individual departments and ministers to make.
Last week, TikTok pledged to strengthen controls over personal information in the app in Europe amid concerns that it could share user data with Beijing.
At least nine MPs still use the increasingly popular social media platform, including Leveling Up Minister Dehenna Davison and former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Last month Tory MP Dr Luke Evans stunned after posting a video of his route to Downing Street, including security footage, for his 41,000 followers.
A government spokesperson said: “All departments have robust processes in place to ensure government IT devices are secure, including third-party application risk management.”