The chairman of the British Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Alicia Kearns recommended on Sunday February 5 that the British not use the Chinese social network TikTok, suggesting that China was using it to collect personal data from its users.
Asked on TV channel Sky News whether it recommends people remove TikTok from their phones, she replied: "
definitely
".
"
It's not worth having this vulnerability on our phones, it's a source of data for anyone with hostile designs
," she argued.
"
Our data is a key vulnerability and China is building a technological totalitarian state on the back of our data
," Alicia Kearns said, urging us to be "
much more serious about protecting ourselves
."
“Data Penetration”
This parliamentary official has long denounced Chinese activism in intelligence and technological development.
She was invited to comment on the case of the Chinese balloon spotted and finally shot down in the United States, the American government having claimed that it was a "
spy
" aircraft, which Beijing denies.
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"
Yes, the balloons are an important diplomatic opportunity to have this conversation, but our biggest concerns are data penetration, the dependence China creates on Chinese companies, the way it intimidates those who find refuge in the UK and elsewhere in the world
,” she said.
Relations understood between London and Beijing
Relations have been tense for several years between London and Beijing, in particular over Hong Kong, a British territory returned in 1997, but also since the United Kingdom in 2020 banned Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from deploying on its soil. equipment for the 5G network, amid fears of espionage that have angered Beijing.
Last October, incidents took place at the Chinese consulate in Manchester, where Chinese envoys were accused of assaulting a protester.
The United Kingdom had summoned the Chinese charge d'affaires in London and Beijing recalled six employees implicated.
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"
Millions of people in the UK take advantage of TikTok and we want to be clear that they can trust us with their data
," a TikTok spokesperson told the PA news agency. .
The company says it has moved to store its UK users' data in Ireland from this year as well as to reduce its employees' access to data and data flows out of Europe.