European Commission bans staff from using TikTok

Staff were ordered on Thursday morning to remove TikTok from their official devices.

The European Commission has banned employees from using social media app TikTok on all corporate devices.

The decision comes amid rising security concerns surrounding Chinese technology companies, prompted by rumours of data gathering via applications such as TikTok.

According to Politico, all employees were instructed to delete TikTok from their work devices.

They were also asked to remove the app from their personal devices if they had work-related applications on the phone.

Staff were also given the choice to delete all work-related apps from their personal phone so they could carry on using the app.

An email sent to staff on Thursday morning read: “To protect Commission’s data and increase its cybersecurity, the EC Corporate Management Board has decided to suspend the TikTok application on corporate devices and personal devices enrolled in the Commission mobile device service."

“As of 15 March, devices with the app installed will be considered non-compliant with the corporate environment," they added.

In a statement released today the European Commission said they are "committed to ensuring that its staff is well protected against increasing cyber threats and incidents. It is, therefore, our duty to respond as early as possible to potential cyber alerts.

"Today's suspension is an internal corporate decision which is strictly limited to the use of devices enrolled in its mobile service," they said.

In Norway, which is not a member of the 27-nation EU, the justice minister was forced to apologise this month for failing to disclose that she had installed TikTok on her government-issued phone.

TikTok has also come under pressure from the EU to comply with upcoming new digital regulations aimed at getting big online platforms to clean up toxic and illegal content along with the bloc’s strict data privacy rules.

The company has said it plans to open two more European data centres to allay data privacy fears.

The European Commission declined to comment further on the topic.