European Commission bans its staff from using TikTok over China cybersecurity concerns

The European Commission has banned its staff from using the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, citing security concerns.

The move comes amid growing fears that Chinese tech firms are helping the government in Beijing collect troves of data around the world and its intelligence service is focusing on political targets, including in Brussels.

TikTok, the video-sharing app that is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance and rose to popularity during the pandemic, is under intense scrutiny from legislators on both sides of the Atlantic.

Commission staff received an email on Thursday morning requesting that they “uninstall TikTok from corporate devices and personal devices using the Commission mobile device service”.

Around 32,000 permanent and contract employees work in the Commission.

“This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats,” the executive arm of the European Union said in a statement on Thursday. 

“The security developments of other social media platforms will also be kept under constant review”.

At a midday briefing, spokespeople for the Commission declined to comment on whether any specific security concern had prompted the decision.

TikTok ‘disappointed with decision’

They explained that staff had been given until March 15 to remove TikTok from their official devices and told they must also remove the app from their personal devices if they use these for work.

It is the first app to be ever banned on the Commission’s work-related devices, a spokesperson said.

The United States introduced last year a similar ban on TikTok use for devices used by the federal government.

The Commission said however that it had not been under any pressure from the US in making its own decision on the topic.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a Euronews Next request for comment.

“We are disappointed with this decision, which we believe to be misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions,” a spokesperson for the platform told Euractiv, which earlier reported the news.

“We have contacted the Commission to set the record straight and explain how we protect the data of the 125 million people across the EU who come to TikTok every month”.

Last November, TikTok admitted that the personal data of users worldwide could be accessed in the company’s Chinese headquarters, sparking new privacy concerns and espionage fears.

The following month, Forbes revealed the app had been used to spy on journalists.