TikTok Is Banned From British Government Phones

Uploaded on 2023-03-17 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Social Media, INTELLIGENCE-Hot Spots-China, GOVERNMENT-National, FREE TO VIEW

The British government has now officially banned the TikTok app from devices across government due to national security concerns. The Minister responsible, Oliver Dowden, confirmed the decision in a statement to Parliament on 16th March. "Given the particular risk around government devices, which may contain sensitive information, it is both prudent and proportionate to restrict the use of certain apps, particularly when it comes to apps where a large amount of data can be stored and accessed," he said

The app has been under increasing scrutiny over its security and data privacy, with major concerns it could be used to promote pro-China views and steal customer data. The ban applies to government corporate devices within ministerial and non-ministerial departments, but it will not extend to personal devices for government employees or ministers or the general public.

Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has advised that Chinese-owned video app be banned from government phones after the home Office minister, Tom Tugendhat, had asked government cyber security experts to look at the risks posed by TikTok. The announcement comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK would look at what the US, the EU and Canada have done in banning TikTok on government phones.

“The ban will not extend to personal devices for government employees, ministers or the general public. That is because as I have outlined, this is a proportionate move based on a specific risk with government devices... However, as is always the case, we do advise individuals to practice caution online and consider each social media platform’s data policies before downloading and using them." Dowden said:

Robert Huber, Chief Security Officer at cyber security platform Tenable has said "Overall this approach aligns with action taken by allies including the United States, Canada and the EU. Our security must always come first, and today we are strengthening that security in a prudent and proportionate way.” While here is active debate in various countries about whether to ban TikTok, but the fact is that there are hundreds of software applications used in government agencies that introduce risk, and unpatched known vulnerabilities that are the source of data breaches.

“The key is for security leaders to understand their organisation's unique risk profile, discover where vulnerabilities exist and prioritise remediation efforts to root out those that could be the most harmful first." Huber said.

Last month, the European Commission ordered its 32,000 staff to remove the TikTok app from devices as soon as possible, and no later than 15 March. In March, the White House gave US government agency staff 30 days to remove the platform from their work devices. President Donald Trump attempted to introduce an outright ban, but it was later blocked in the courts. The Indian government was more successful, managing to ban 59 Chinese-made apps in 2020, including TikTok.

Like most other social media companies, TikTok collects huge amounts of data on its users, such as their location and what other apps they have. However, because TikTok is owned by the Chinese tech company, ByteDance,, there have been concerns it could pass information on to the Chinese government.

Faki Saadi, Director of Sales UK&I at enterprise mobility management specialist firm SOTI commented: “Any app that harvests the data you put into it should be treated with caution... TikTok being banned from UK government devices should act as a wakeup call to other organisations - do you have full visibility over the apps your employees have on their corporate devices? If not, perhaps now is the time to take stock.”

China's National Intelligence Law says all Chinese organisations should "support, assist and co-operate" with the government's intelligence efforts. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology say the law also includes protections for the rights of users, and TikTok says Chinese staff cannot access the data of non-Chinese users.

However, in December it emerged that several ByteDance employees had access to at least two US journalists' data and a "small number" of others, to track their locations and check whether they were meeting TikTok employees suspected of leaking information to the media.

TikTok says the employees who accessed the information were later dismissed. The British Parliament’s TikTok account was shut down last year after MPs raised concerns about the firm’s links to China. TikTok first launched in China in 2016 and by October 2020 had surpassed 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide.

Channel News Asia: ITPro: Tenable: Star: Sky: Standard: Republic World: BBC: BBC:

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