A select group of officers receive smartphones from the boss to use to maintain police TikTok accounts. For other agents, the policies regarding these applications will be more stringent. In this way, the goal is to overcome the dangers and risks of the platform.

announced in a press statement police policy tightening.

Police: ‘TikTok is critical to operations’

The police are no longer allowed to install TikTok on office phones. Starting today, agents are also not allowed to download applications on other digital devices, such as tablets.

The fact that the police are tightening policies around TikTok doesn’t mean they are saying goodbye to the video platform. Social media has its advantages. Many young people are active on the platform, which means police officers have a better understanding of what’s going on in society. In short, TikTok strengthens the position of police information, which is ‘of operational importance’.

Police said they were “connected” to the community by TikTok

The police are acutely aware of the potential security risks of TikTok. That’s why the policy was tightened. In order to use the app in a safe and responsible manner, from now on only a small group of agents are allowed to use TikTok. “They use it for investigation, intelligence, communications, surveillance and law enforcement. These colleagues will receive a special telephone for this purpose, which will only be used for TikTok’s official business account and for investigative and intelligence purposes,” the police said in a press release.

The police emphasized that millions of Dutch people are active on TikTok, both children and cybercriminals. “We have a responsibility as a police force to maintain good contact with everyone in the community and where people are, including online,” the press statement said. By tightening internal policies at various points, the police hope to address the dangers and risks of the platform.

The banning of TikTok is already a fact in several countries

Due to possible breaches of privacy and espionage practices, TikTok has come under fire for some time. TikTok is owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance. In China, the government can coerce Chinese companies and organizations to share customer data with the government or the People’s Liberation Army.

The Dutch intelligence and security agency recently warned that apps developed in countries with authoritarian regimes pose a security risk. Therefore, more and more governments and institutions are banning the use of TikTok.

Belgium, France, Britain, Canada and the United States now have such bans. Officials working for the European Commission are also not allowed to install the app on their smartphones, tablets or laptops.

Loud calls for a ban on TikTok in the Netherlands

Calls for a ban on TikTok have also grown louder in the Netherlands. Several authorities have introduced them. Since late March, employees of the municipal government of Amsterdam have no longer been allowed to use the app on their work equipment. Around the same time, the Tax and Customs Administration ordered its employees to delete the app from their work phones.

Various factions in the DPR – including D66, CDA and PvdD – are calling for a ban on TikTok. ChristenUnie goes further and prefers a total ban in our country. Secretary of State for Digitization Alexandra van Hufflen, on the other hand, uses ‘managed devices’. Only pre-approved apps can and should be installed on work devices.