In the latest ban imposed on Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, the app will be blocked from parliamentary devices and networks in the UK, Sky News reported.
The commissions of the House of Commons and House of Lords have announced they will follow the move taken by the government on official devices, citing the need for cyber security, according to Sky News. As per a parliament spokesman, TikTok “will be blocked from all parliamentary devices and the wider parliamentary network”.
“Cyber security is a top priority for parliament; however, we do not comment on specific details of our cyber or physical security controls, policies, or incidents,” he said, as quoted by Sky News. The app can still be used on personal devices while on the parliamentary estate, provided the devices aren’t connected to the parliament’s WiFi network. The move was welcomed by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. He called for the ban to be extended to the personal devices of ministers. He tweeted, “The decision to block TikTok from all parliamentary devices is welcome and a good decision.”
“Given this robust position in parliament following the ban of TikTok from government phones, it’s now time that TikTok is also banned from ministers’ personal telephones.” Recently, TikTok was banned on the phones of New Zealand MPs, an Auckland-based daily newspaper, the New Zealand Herald, reported.
As per the New Zealand Herald, the chief executive of the Parliamentary Service, Rafael Gonzalez-Montero, stated that the “risks are not acceptable,” given that strict actions are being taken all over the world concerning social media services.
The executive informed the New Zealand MPs of the new move after Britain banned the Chinese-owned video app on government phones with immediate effect overnight recently.
Due to worries that the Chinese government could access user data from TikTok, which is controlled by the Beijing-based corporation ByteDance, endangering Western security interests, the app has received outrage globally, the Auckland-based newspaper reported.
