The United Kingdom and New Zealand are the last two countries that in the last few hours have limited access to TikTok to the mobile phones of their government officials. The economic battle between the United States and China and concerns about cybersecurity are the main reasons why some countries, mainly Western countries, have taken these measures.
In the case of the United Kingdom, it will prohibit installing the Chinese application on official government mobile phones for security reasons. International pressure led by the United States has pushed the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to join the veto, considering that official telephones may contain sensitive information.
This week, Secretary of State for Security Tom Tugendhat told Sky News that he has asked the National Cyber ??Security Center to review the app to make sure it does not pose a threat.
For its part, New Zealand will ban the use of TikTok on all electronic devices connected to the Wellington Parliament network from March 31. Therefore, they must be removed from all electronic devices before that date.
The decision follows the advice of cyber security experts and comes after discussion among members of the New Zealand government and other countries. “Based on this information, the (Parliamentary) Service has determined that the risks are not acceptable in the current New Zealand parliamentary environment,” said Parliamentary Services Chief Executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero, quoted in a statement.
The White House, the Canadian government, the European Commission and the European Parliament are some of the institutions that have vetoed the use of TikTok on the corporate devices of their employees to protect themselves against possible cyberattacks.
ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, defends its transparency and denies that it facilitates (as is feared in the West) the Chinese government’s access to its users’ data. He speaks of “prejudice” because it is a company from that country.
