Ashish Ranjan
British parliament blocks TikTok: Following a similar prohibition on government devices, the British parliament blocks TikTok on all devices on its network, becoming the latest Western institution to do so out of security concerns.A spokesperson for TikTok described the action as “misguided,” stating that it was founded on fundamental misunderstandings of the company.
A parliament spokesperson stated, “Following the government’s decision to ban TikTok on government devices, the commissions of both the House of Commons and Lords have decided that TikTok will be blocked from all parliamentary devices and the wider parliamentary network.”
The United Kingdom banned Chinese video apps on government phones last week.The parliament’s main priority is cyber security, the spokesperson added.The United States, Canada, Belgium, and the European Commission have already prohibited the app from being installed on government-issued devices.
The spokesperson for TikTok said in a statement: “We are disappointed that, despite our requests, we have not been given any opportunity to address concerns. We only ask to be judged on facts and treated equally with our competitors.”
The company has begun implementing a plan to safeguard its European user data, which includes storing UK user data in its European data centres and tightening data access controls, according to the spokesperson.
Fears that user data from the app owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, undermining Western security interests, have increased scrutiny on TikTok.
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The British parliament’s ban was declared as TikTok’s chief executive was being questioned by US lawmakers who believe the app should be banned because it poses a potential threat to national security.
