Belgium bans TikTok from government devices over security concerns
Date
3/12/2023 4:39:44 AM
(MENAFN) Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced on Friday that the government is going to ban the use of TikTok on government-owned devices due to security concerns. The move follows similar measures taken by the United States, European Union, and Canada. The ban is going to take effect next week and is going to be reassessed after six months. While government employees will still be permitted to use TikTok on their personal devices, the app will be prohibited on any devices "whose purchase, subscription or use are partly or fully paid for by the federal government."
De Croo cited reports from the Belgian State Security Service and Centre for Cybersecurity, which claimed that TikTok collects a vast amount of user data, manipulates the information that users are exposed to, and cooperates with Chinese spy agencies. The Prime Minister expressed concern that TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company headquartered in Beijing, is required to comply with Chinese intelligence services.
Despite TikTok's claim that user data is stored on servers outside of China and that the Chinese government does not have access to it, De Croo remained cautious, emphasizing that the Belgian government should not be naive about the matter. TikTok, which has headquarters in the United States, Ireland, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, has yet to respond to the Belgian ban.
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