The European Commission imposed a ban on the use of TikTok on devices of the government organization on Thursday morning, Politico reports. That measure has been taken because of growing concerns about espionage by China.
TikTok is a social network owned by the Chinese tech company Bytedance. In Western countries, there are increasing concerns about Chinese tech companies helping intelligence agencies in state espionage.
Secret services mainly try to eavesdrop on people with high political positions. That is why the European Commission has put in place the TikTok ban. Through that social network, the Chinese government could spy on senior officials at the Commission.
Employees of the Commission, according to Politico, were ordered on Thursday morning to remove TikTok from all their business devices. Employees should also remove the app from their personal devices if they have work-related apps installed. If they don’t want to, they should remove the work-related apps from their device.
Other European institutions, including the European Council and the European Parliament, are also likely to introduce a TikTok ban, writes Politico. The US government has long banned the use of the Chinese social network.
Maurice Esma, a co-founder of EconomicInform is a freelance journalist with the expertise in international finance and corporate rights. The author can be reached by email maurice.eisma@economicinform.com
