European Commission bans TikTok on staff devices

TikTok logo
(Image credit: ByteDance)

The European Union’s (EU) executive arm, the European Commission (EC), has ordered its staff to remove stratospherically popular social media platform TikTok from official smartphones and devices, citing security concerns.

Per BBC News, the diktat, which has been given a deadline of March 15, 2023, comes as TikTok continues to face western pressure due to allegations of its owners, Chinese company ByteDance, sending international user data to the state government, which it can be forced to do per local laws.

Despite ByteDance’s continued assertions that it isn’t treating data in this way, which would amount to TikTok essentially being a mass-surveillance tool, this ought to raise fears around identity theft, and the general sanctity of an individual’s privacy online.

TechRadar Pro needs you!
We want to build a better website for our readers, and we need your help! You can do your bit by filling out our survey and telling us your opinions and views about the tech industry in 2023. It will only take a few minutes and all your answers will be anonymous and confidential. Thank you again for helping us make TechRadar Pro even better.

D. Athow, Managing Editor

TikTok, the EU, and you

Sonya Gospodinova, an EU spokesperson, said the decision had been taken by the EC’s corporate management board.

"[It] aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the commission.”

Workers who don’t comply with the new rule are warned that they will be locked out of official EC applications, including the EC’s email client, and the video conferencing software Skype for Business. Given that the EC employs around 32,000 people, that could be disruptive.

Despite its admission last year that TikTok can access European user data, ByteDance strenuously denies the need for the bans that world governments, including the US and Netherlands have enacted, or have publicly considered enacting, in recent years. 

As the BBC notes, TikTok’s chief executive Shou Zi Chew claimed in January that the social media platform was working on a “robust” system to safely and securely process European user data, following censure from EU officials.

A US-wide ban of the service was mulled over in 2020, though this appears to have been nixed. A ban across India came into force that same year. 

Luke Hughes
Staff Writer

 Luke Hughes holds the role of Staff Writer at TechRadar Pro, producing news, features and deals content across topics ranging from computing to cloud services, cybersecurity, data privacy and business software.

Read more
China flag and EU flag on cloudy sky. Waving in the sky
TikTok among six tech firms under fire for sending Europeans' personal data to China
EU
TikTok is under investigation for Romanian election interference concerns
The TikTok logo appears on a smartphone screen with the United States flag in the background
Forget the US TikTok ban – what we need is better social media and privacy laws
Participants hold up signs in support of TikTok at a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol Building on March 12, 2024 in Washington, DC.
US TikTok ban: the clock is ticking for Americans' digital freedoms
DeepSeek
DeepSeek accused of sharing users' data with TikTok's ByteDance in another blow around privacy concerns
Abstract image of cyber security in action.
TikTok’s American ownership rule ignores bigger IoT threat
Latest in Security
Data Breach
Thousands of healthcare records exposed online, including private patient information
China
Juniper patches security flaws which could have let hackers take over your router
Representational image depecting cybersecurity protection
GitLab has patched a host of worrying security issues
Ai tech, businessman show virtual graphic Global Internet connect Chatgpt Chat with AI, Artificial Intelligence.
AI agents can be hijacked to write and send phishing attacks
China
Volt Typhoon threat group had access to American utility networks for the best part of a year
Abstract image of cyber security in action.
MassJacker malware targets those looking for pirated software
Latest in News
Three iPhone 16 handsets on show
Apple could launch an iPhone 17 Ultra this year – but we've heard these rumors before
Super Mario Odyssey
ChatGPT is the ultimate gaming tool - here's 4 ways you can use AI to help with your next playthrough
Ray-Ban smart glasses with the Cpperni logo, an LED array, and a MacBook Air with M4 next to ecah other.
ICYMI: the week's 7 biggest tech stories from Twitter's massive outage to iRobot's impressive new Roombas
Brad Pitt looks over his right shoulder with 'F1' written behind him
Apple Original Films will take you behind-the-scenes of a racing cockpit in this new thrilling F1 movie trailer
AI writer
Coding AI tells developer to write it himself
Reacher looking down at another character from the Prime Video TV series Reacher
Reacher season 3 becomes Prime Video’s biggest returning show thanks to Hollywood’s biggest heavyweight