TikTok is under fire over privacy and security concerns (Picture: Getty Images)
With the prospect of a full ban on TikTok a possibility in the UK, New Zealand is the latest to ban the video-sharing app on government phones.
The popular app is under intense scrutiny for its links to China, with the US – where there are 100 million Tiktok users – now demanding that its Chinese owners sell their shares or face an outright ban.
China and TikTok insist there are no security risks. But some other countries are concerned that TikTok users’ data could be passed to the country, or that it could be used to promote pro-Beijing views.
A billion people use the app around the world.
President Biden’s threat follows an attempt by Donald Trump to ban the app, back in 2020, when the move was blocked by US courts.
So which countries have taken action to ban TikTok, and who exactly is banned?
Here’s what you need to know.
Which countries have banned Tiktok?
New Zealand
TikTok videos boomed during lockdown, but could a UK ban be incoming?(Picture: Getty Images)
MPs in New Zealand were told today (Friday, March 17) that Tiktok will be banned from all parliamentary devices, as ‘the risks are not acceptable in the current New Zealand parliament environment’.
In an email, MPs were told: ‘The decision to block the TikTok application has been made based on our own analysis and following discussion with our colleagues across government and internationally.’
Some MPs regularly post on TikTok, including Act party leader David Seymour, and they will still be free to do so on personal phones.
USA
President Joe Biden is considering a country-wide ban on Tiktok (Picture: Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
US politicians in the House of Representatives were ordered to remove TikTok from their work phones and banned from downloading it last December.
More than half US states have also brought in a ban on using TikTok on government devices, and both Democrats and Republicans have joined forces to create legislation which would give the White House the power to ban it across the country.
UK
Yesterday (Thursday, March 16) the UK government banned TikTok on all government devices with immediate effect.
All staff were ordered to remove to app ‘immediately’.
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It followed fears there could be a risk around how sensitive government data is accessed and used by certain platforms.
Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden said: ‘As many colleagues will know, social media apps collect and store huge amounts of user data.’
TikTok said it was ‘disappointed’ by the move that was based ‘on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics’.
EU
The EU has taken a stand against Tiktok for its employees (Picture: Getty Images)
The
Source:: Metro
