The UK has ban the use of China’s app TikTok on official devices.
According to the news agency from London, British Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden says that the use of Tik Tok in official devices is ban. The ban will applied immediately.
The British minister further said that the US and European countries have also banned the use of Tik Tok in official devices.
According to the govt announcement, the social media app is not widely in use by UK authorities. But the move reflects concerns about TikTok’s links to China through its parent company ByteDance. And potentially the Chinese government may pressure companies to hand over consumers’ personal information.
In a statement on Thursday, TikTok expressed its disappointment at the decision.
“We believe UK ban TikTok, base on fundamental misunderstandings and are driven by wider geopolitics. In which TikTok, and our millions of users in the UK, play no part,” a spokesperson said.
“We show commitment to work with the government to address any concerns. But decisions must made on the facts and our competitors must treated equally.”
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The company has said it is working to voluntarily address security concerns by taking technical and bureaucratic steps to lock out US and EU customer data from its global operations. It has also said it has not received any requests for user information from the Chinese government and will resist such calls.