The European and American authorities fear in particular that Beijing could access the data of the users of the platform
Over a billion users, a huge success among young people, but a source of growing concern in many Western countries. Faced with the TikTok phenomenon, several governments or institutions are now taking steps to ban their employees from using the platform. On Tuesday February 28, the European Parliament thus ordered MEPs and employees of the institution to remove TikTok from their professional phones before March 20, according to information from France Télévisions.
In question: the parent company of TikTok, the Chinese company ByteDance. Westerners are particularly concerned that Beijing may access, via the application, the data of users around the world. Franceinfo comes back in three questions on the restrictions decided in recent weeks.
Which states have banned TikTok from their officials?
The US government was the first to draw. In the United States, a law ratified by President Joe Biden in early January prohibits the downloading and use of TikTok on the devices of US federal state officials. Twenty American states have taken a similar measure for their own employees. Biden administration officials were given 30 days to disable the Chinese social network from their phones. U.S. federal agencies must also clear devices of the video app within 30 days, the White House Office of Management and Budget ordered on Feb. 27.
The European Commission has followed suit in Washington. The institution banned, on February 23, use of the application on the professional devices of its 32,000 employees. The latter have until March 15 at the latest to uninstall the application from their professional devices (telephones, tablets, etc.), said Brussels. They will also have to remove TikTok from their personal devices if they contain applications validated for professional use (email, videoconferencing applications), with the aim of “protect Commission data”.
The Canadian government announced, a few days later, to ban TikTok from the mobile devices it provides to its staff. The Canadian Privacy Commissioner has launched an investigation into the app to establish its compliance with Canadian laws
The Danish Parliament also asked, on Tuesday, its deputies and all its staff to ban the application from mobile devices.. And in France ? The Ministry of the Armed Forces is considering a guide to “good practices” on the use of the social network, and plans to “advise” its use in the military, according to information from franceinfo. For its part, the Senate must launch, this week, a commission of inquiry on the subject, with a view to recommendations, or even a bill by this summer.
What are the reasons given to justify these bans?
The Western states and institutions mentioned above all fear that the Chinese regime will access the data of TikTok users. US lawmakers are thus viewing the app as a threat to national security. “The fundamental problem is that TikTok is owned by ByteDance, which itself is subject to the effective control of the Chinese Communist Party”explained, at the end of December, on the CNN channel (English content)Mike Gallagher, elected Republican of the House of Representatives.
Same explanation on the Canadian side, which speaks of a decision taken “as a preventive measure”. “On a mobile device, TikTok’s data collection methods give considerable access to phone content”said Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board in the Trudeau government.
The European executive, for its part, justified its decision by protecting the “Cyber Threat Commission. It is our duty to react as soon as possible to potential cyber alerts”says a press release. “The Commission has, from the start of its mandate, emphasized cybersecurity, the protection of its employees and all those who work” for the institution, also declared to the press, on February 23, the Commissioner for Industry, Thierry Breton. Without giving more details. “We are under no obligation to give the reasons for which we take [de telles] decisions”he insisted.
Copenhagen for its part evoked on Tuesday a “risk of espionage”. For his part, the French EELV MEP David Cormand was more direct at the microphone of franceinfo: “It is a very bad idea to use this social network which is probably used by China to have access to a certain amount of data”.
How is TikTok defending itself?
The company took several measures to try to convince the American authorities that the data of American users of the platform were protected, in particular by storing them on servers located in the United States. However, the platform admitted that employees based in China had access to this data, although this was done, according to him, within a strict and limited framework. “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not ask us to share this data.regularly claimed TikTok, quoted by AFP. We did not pass any US user information to the CCP and would not if asked to do so.”
At the end of December, ByteDance also admitted to AFP that several of its employees had accessed data from the TikTok platform to track down journalists in order to identify the sources behind information leaks to the media. In a statement to AFP, ByteDance then condemned a “an unfortunate initiative that seriously violated the company’s code of conduct”.
However, faced with the decisions taken by several government authorities, the social network shows its disapproval. “This suspension is misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions. We are surprised that the Commission has not contacted us directly, nor given us the opportunity to explain ourselves”, for example, deplored TikTok in a press release, after the decision of Brussels. A spokeswoman for TikTok also deplored, in an email to AFP, a decision “curious”plug “without citing any specific security issue” regarding the announcement by the Canadian authorities.