New Zealand will ban TikTok on work phones and other devices accessing the parliamentary network, a government official said on Friday.
The ban will be introduced on March 31, for all MPs. There are serious concerns about the security of Chinese apps.
According to critics, TikTok is passing sensitive information from users to the Chinese government. In addition, China could use TikTok’s secret algorithms to spread disinformation on a large scale and influence social debate.
Last year it was announced that two American journalists were being followed. Employees of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance were found to have access to IP addresses and other data. That should never have happened, says TikTok. The employees were fired.
Other countries have banned the use of apps on business phones and other government employee devices. Similar actions have been taken in the UK, US, Canada, Belgium and the European Union.
There is no official TikTok ban in the Netherlands yet, but it is being discussed. A majority of the House of Representatives was of the opinion that the application should not be on a government official’s phone.
“Coffee trailblazer. Analyst. General music geek. Bacon maven. Devoted organizer. Incurable internet ninja. Entrepreneur.”
