The European Commission has banned staff from using the Chinese social media app TikTok over security concerns, in the latest example of growing strains between Beijing and the West.
Western governments are increasingly alarmed by evidence that Chinese technology companies assist the Communist Party and its intelligence services in gathering vast amounts of data all over the world — with a particular focus on high-value political and security targets.
A senior official told POLITICO that all staff were ordered on Thursday morning to remove TikTok from their official devices and that they must also remove the app from their personal devices if they have any work-related apps installed.
Alternatively, the staff members can delete work-related apps from their personal phones if they insist on keeping TikTok.
The Commission has a “bring your own device” policy that senior officials describe as “horrible” from a security perspective.
The other institutions of the European Union, including the Council and the Parliament, are likely to follow up eventually with a ban on the Chinese app, although it may take much longer for the Parliament in particular to be able to implement such a policy.
The ban is likely to be announced publicly at the Commission’s regular midday briefing.
The U.S. has already banned TikTok from many government devices and the Netherlands is currently also considering a ban.
