Dutch Government Asks Staff to Stop Using TikTok, Similar Apps

Sarah Jacob, Bloomberg News

The TikTok logo is displayed on a smartphone in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. TikTok has become a flash point among rising U.S.-China tensions in recent months as U.S. politicians raised concerns that parent company ByteDance Ltd. could be compelled to hand over American users’ data to Beijing or use the app to influence the 165 million Americans, and more than 2 billion users globally, who have downloaded it. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- The Netherlands asked government officials to immediately stop using TikTok and similar apps on their mobile work devices amid fears of security violations.

Apps from companies based in countries with an “offensive cyber program” against the Netherlands represent an increased espionage risk, the Dutch government said in a statement on Tuesday.

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., has also been banned from staff phones at the European Commission, the Canadian civil service and the US Congress. The Dutch cabinet is also working on a structural solution that involves issuing government employees with managed devices or those with pre-determined apps, according to the statement.

Read More: Warner Pushes His TikTok Bill as Best ‘Rules-Based Approach’

The Chinese government has no access to TikTok’s user data, a spokesperson for the social media platform said in a statement. The company plans to store its European users’ data in Europe, the spokesperson said.

(Updates with TikTok’s statement in the last paragraph)