The
European
Commission
has
banned
its
employees
from
using
the
Chinese
social
media
app
TikTok
over
security
concerns.
The
European
Union
has
banned
the
popular
Chinese
video-sharing
app
TikTok
from
the
mobile
devices
of
its
employees
over
security
concerns.
The
app
developed
by
the
Chinese
firm
ByteDance
has
over
1
billion
active
users
worldwide,
it
has
come
under
close
scrutiny
in
the
US
and
other
countries
for
its
alleged
link
with
the
Government
of
Beijing.
The
US
already
warned
of
the
alleged
link
between
the
Chinese
company
and
the
Communist
Party,
accusing
TikTok
of
collecting
and
sharing
data
for
Chinese
intelligence.
A
senior
official
told
POLITICO
that
all
staff
was
ordered
on
Thursday
morning
to
remove
the
popular
app
from
their
official
devices.
The
staff
was
also
ordered
to
uninstall
the
app
from
their
personal
devices
by
March
15
if
they
were
also
used
for
professional
business.
An
alternative
option
for
the
staff
is
to
delete
work-related
apps
from
their
personal
phones
if
want
continues
to
use
TikTok.
“To
protect
Commission’s
data
and
increase
its
cybersecurity,
the
EC
Corporate
Management
Board
has
decided
to
suspend
the
TikTok
application
on
corporate
devices
and
personal
devices
enrolled
in
the
Commission
mobile
device
service,”
said
the
email
sent
to
staff
on
Thursday
morning.
“The
reason
why
this
decision
has
been
taken
is
to
…
increase
the
commission’s
cybersecurity,”
commission
spokesperson
Sonya
Gospodinova
said
at
a
press
briefing
in
Brussels.
“Also,
the
measure
aims
to
protect
the
commission
against
cybersecurity
threats
and
actions
which
may
be
exploited
for
cyberattacks
against
the
corporate
environment
of
the
commission.”
Messagero
A
similar
move
was
adopted
by
the
US
Government
that
is
banning
the
use
of
TikTok
on
all
government
devices
by
the
end
of
February
2023 due
to
national
security
concerns
related
to
TikTok’s
ties
to
China
TikTok
has
yet
to
comment
on
the
decision.
In
January
2020,
the
US
Army
banned
the
use
of
the
popular
TikTok
app
on
mobile
phones
used
by
its
personnel
for
security
reasons.
In
November,
the
short-form
video-sharing
service
updated
its privacy
policy for
European
Economic
Area
(“EEA”),
the
UK,
and
Switzerland
and
confirmed
that
its
users’
data
can
be
accessed
by
its
personnel,
including
Chinese
employees.
European
user
data
could
be
also
accessed
by
TikTok
staff
in
Brazil,
Canada
and
Israel
as
well
as
the
US
and Singapore,
where
user
data
is
currently
stored.
In
December,
TikTok
parent
company
ByteDance
revealed
that
several
employees
accessed
the
TikTok
data
of
two
journalists
to
investigate
leaks
of
company
information
to
the
media.
According
to
an
email
from
ByteDance’s
general
counsel
Erich
Andersen
which
was
seen
by
the
AFP
news
agency,
the
Chinese
company
was
attempting
to
discover
who
shared
company
information
with
a
Financial
Times
reporter
and
a
former
BuzzFeed
journalist.
The
company
fired
an
undisclosed
number
of
employees
who
were
involved
in
the
data
leak
because
they
violated
the
company’s
Code
of
Conduct,
but
it
did
not
reveal
their
names.
In
an
attempt
to
discover
the
location
of
the
unfaithful
employees,
the
Chinese
personnel
analyzed
their
IP
addresses,
but
this
method
was
approximate.
While
Western
governments
are
banning
the
app
from
government
devices,
the
company
announced
that
it
plans
to
open
two
more
European
data
centers
to
allay
data
privacy
and
security
concerns.
Follow
me
on
Twitter:
@securityaffairs
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and
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(SecurityAffairs –
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Commission)
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