The European Commission has asked its employees to remove the social network application TikTok from phones using its professional services, for the sake of protecting their data. A ban comes as no surprise after numerous critical statements from the EU against the Chinese platform.
Europeans still have access to TikTok, but this will no longer be the case for employees of the European Union. On the morning of Thursday 23 February, the European Commission (executive body of the EU) sent an e-mail to its employees, reveals the international media EURACTIV. The instruction: remove the application of the Chinese social network TikTok from all smartphones that use professional services of the Union. Even on their personal phones.
“In order to protect the Commission’s data and increase its cybersecurity, the EC Management Board [Commission européenne] has decided to suspend the TikTok application on corporate devices and personal devices registered with the Commission’s mobile device servicesquotes Euractiv, which had access to the email.
A fear of access to EU data
It is indeed the question of the risk of TikTok’s access to EU data which is the catalyst for this decision. Whether personal or work, these smartphones use ByteDance’s social networking app alongside other business apps, such as the Commission’s official email app or Skype For Business, raising fears of a leak. sensitive or even confidential data. In his email, the EU executive also warns that these applications will be deactivated if employees do not comply with the rule before March 15.
The European Union is therefore following the example of the United States, which has also banned TikTok from the phones of its government employees end December.
TikTok targeted by two recent cases
A decision that is not really surprising: TikTok has been in the crosshairs of the European Union for a few months. At the beginning of January, several European commissioners (kinds of EU ministers) confronted CEO Shou Zi Chew with two recent cases which question the Chinese social network: theTikTok confession to provide access to European user data to its employees in China in November, followed by revelations about thespying on journalists from the American newspaper Forbesend December.
The first case goes against the European regulation on the protection of personal data (GDPR), while the second is part of a context of tension between the West and the Chinese dictatorship, accused of using TikTok for policies.
In response to the February 23 email, a TikTok spokesperson expressed his astonishment on LinkedInsaying to himself “disappointed“that the EU did not know”distinguish concerns about state policies from concerns about company policies“. TikTok asks to speak with the European Commission to “make things clear“.
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