Britain is to ban the Chinese language-owned video-sharing app TikTok from ministers’ and civil servants’ cell phones, bringing the UK in step with the US and the European Fee and reflecting deteriorating relations with Beijing. From a report: The choice marks a pointy U-turn from the UK’s earlier place and got here just a few hours after TikTok stated its proprietor, ByteDance, had been informed by Washington to promote the app or face a potential ban within the nation. The UK authorities’s announcement was made on Thursday by Oliver Dowden, the Cupboard Workplace minister, within the Commons. He stated the ban was going down “with speedy impact.”
The choice follows a evaluation of TikTok by authorities cybersecurity consultants on the Nationwide Cyber Safety Centre, and can cowl ministers’ and civil servants’ work telephones, however not their private telephones. “It is a proportionate transfer primarily based on a selected danger with authorities units,” Dowden added. A minimum of two cupboard ministers use TikTok. Michelle Donelan, the science and expertise secretary, and Grant Shapps, the power safety and web zero secretary have an account on the app, which is utilized by thousands and thousands of younger individuals and lots of celebrities and influencers.
