Day after day, the number of countries imposing a ban or financial fines on the popular Chinese application “TikTok” is increasing, due to security concerns and allegations of privacy violations.
The United States, Canada and the European Union are the top countries that have announced a ban on the use of the application on government devices.
In response to the ban, Bytedance, the owner of the application, said in a statement that “it is disappointing to see government agencies and institutions banning the application on employees ' devices without evidence”.
She explained that she “appreciates the wise choice of some governments not to implement the ban, due to the lack of evidence or the need for it,” ABC News reported.
“We share a common goal with governments that are concerned about user privacy, but these bans are misleading and do nothing to enhance privacy or security,”she added.
This is the list of countries that have banned the application or imposed financial fines on it over the past years:
Turkey
The “personal data protection board” in Turkey imposed a fine of one million and 750 thousand Turkish Liras (about 93 thousand dollars) on the application for displaying children's personal information and collecting data in an unauthorized way and violating the law.
This came as part of an investigation conducted by the council against the background of complaints about the application's failure to obtain “explicit consent” in accordance with the personal data protection law No. 6698, and the existence of irregularities in obtaining and storing personal data, and containing many security vulnerabilities.
According to the text of the decision published on the council's website, on the first of March, the investigation included examining the Privacy Policy and terms of Service.
It turns out that the application made an update in January 2021, and changed the default privacy settings for user accounts aged 13-15 years.
Canada
The Canadian government said on February 27 that it had”conducted a review of TikTok and determined that it represents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security".
The Treasury Board of Canada said in a statement that “the application will be removed from all government mobile devices, preventing users of these devices from downloading the application in the future”.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a press statement last Monday that the ban of the application is " the first step to take further measures”.
European Union
On February 21, the European Commission asked its employees to remove the TikTok app from their devices, due to security concerns.
The commission said in a statement that it would “suspend the use of the TikTok application in its institutional and personal devices linked to its system”.
“The measures are aimed at protecting EU institutions and employees from cyber security threats and any measures that may be exploited in cyber attacks,”the statement said.
United States of America
In December 2022, the US Senate passed a bill to ban federal employees from using TikTok on government-owned devices.
The Wall Street Journal reported that " the Senate unanimously passed a bill prohibiting federal employees from downloading or using the TikTok app on government devices”.
She pointed out that the Senate had previously passed a similar bill in Congress, but it was not put to a vote in the House of Representatives.
Recently, the White House said in a statement that “US government agencies have 30 days to ensure that the application is removed from federal devices and systems”.
Olivia Dalton, deputy White House press secretary, said at a press briefing: “we will continue to consider what other actions we can take. That includes how we can work with Congress on this issue further, " he said”
More than half of the US states have taken steps towards a “partial or complete ban” of the application on government agencies, according to local media.
Britain
In August 2022, the British parliament announced the closure of its TikTok account, after a number of MPs raised concerns about the social networking company's relationship with the Chinese government.
The parliament speaker said in a press statement, “based on the comments of members, we are closing the demo account of the British parliament on TikTok, earlier than we planned,” the BBC reported.
Earlier, in a letter to the speaker of the parliament, British MPs expressed concern about the data being sent to the Chinese government.
“The possibility of the Chinese government accessing our children's personal phone data should be of great concern,”the letter said.
Temporary ban
In Jordan, the cybercrime unit of the public security directorate announced, in December 2022, the suspension of the TikTok application “temporarily due to publications inciting violence and chaos”.
The unit said in a statement that it and the cybercrime teams “follow up what is published on social media, especially with regard to hate speech, incitement to vandalism, assault on law enforcement agencies and property, and banditry”.
“The TikTok platform has not dealt with its abuse by its users, and therefore its services in the Kingdom have been temporarily suspended,”the statement said.
The app also faced a "temporary ban “for all users in Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan due to the spread of content deemed”inappropriate" by government officials.
Taiwan
Taiwan launched an investigation in December 2022, regarding the TikTok app, claiming that the platform is “operating illegally” in the country.
The country's Affairs Council said in a statement that one of the companies contracted with the application “is setting up a store and conducting business in Taiwan,” in violation of the ban on commercial activities of the application in Taiwan.
“China is using TikTok and other video apps to shape public opinion inside the country,” the council explained, warning of “the risk of the Chinese government collecting personal information about users”.
India
In 2020, India imposed a “total ban” on TikTok and dozens of other Chinese applications, justifying the decision with concerns about data privacy and national security.
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