The UK government has made the same move as the U.S. by banning TikTok on ministers and civil servants’ phones.
Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden delivered a statement to MPs in the past few minutes announcing the ban, which comes a few weeks after the U.S. senate mandated that all federate employees delete the Chinese-owned social media app from government-issued mobile phones. The U.S. is currently threatening a nationwide TikTok ban unless owner ByteDance divests the app, according to reports earlier this week.
Although ByteDance has strongly denied these reports, TikTok has faced allegations it hands users’ data to the Chinese government, and today’s move follows a review from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre.
TikTok said bans had been based on “misplaced fears and seemingly driven by wider geopolitics”, adding it would be “disappointed by such a move” in the UK, according to the BBC.
The likes of Canada, Belgium and the European Union have all taken similar action.
The BBC, however, has been pushing its journalists to use the platform more regularly as a way of connecting with younger audiences, a diktat that alarmed some insiders when they spoke with Deadline earlier this year, while senior Conservative MPs have since urged the corporation to reconsider its focus.
Last week, Danish public broadcaster DR advised employees to stop using the app.