The United Kingdom bans the use of TikTok on mobile phones contracted by the Government

The Government of Rishi Sunak has decided to follow the path set by the United States, the community institutions in Brussels or Canada, among others, regarding the use of the popular TikTok application.

As of this Thursday, its installation or use in all mobile phones contracted for members of the Government or senior officials is prohibited.

“The security of the most sensitive government information must come before everything else.

As of today, we have decided to ban this app on government devices.

The use of other applications capable of also extracting user data will be subject to permanent review," the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden, announced in the House of Commons.

"The restriction of the use of TikTok on government mobile phones is a proportional and prudent measure, with which we follow the recommendations of our cybersecurity experts," said the minister.

The popular app, with more than 3.5 billion downloads worldwide, is owned by a Chinese company.

The Secretary of State for Security of the United Kingdom, Tom Tugendhat, ordered a review of his team, which has endorsed the decision announced this Thursday.

"Given the potentially sensitive nature of the information stored on government mobiles, the policy for managing third-party applications will be strengthened, in addition to introducing a ban on TikTok for precautionary reasons," says the official statement from Downing Street.

The ban does not extend to the private mobile phones of officials or political officials, although they are asked to "be aware of the data policies of each social media platform before deciding to download or use them."

Any exception in the use of TikTok, for work reasons, must be allowed by the Government's security teams on an individual basis, with the express authorization of the corresponding minister and with the appropriate reinforcement measures.

The Ministry of Defence, for example, has published this Thursday in its application account a video of the Challenger 2 tank, of which the United Kingdom Government has supplied 14 units to Ukraine.

China has accused the United States, the first country to implement the ban last December, of spreading false information about the company.

The owners of TikTok have denied any provision of user data information to the Beijing government.

The 'challenge' of an era

The government of Rishi Sunak has published this week an update of the so-called Integrated Review, a multi-year analysis of the challenges facing the country in terms of security and foreign policy.

The prime minister has resisted pressure from the hardline wing of the Conservative Party to define China as a "threat".

Instead, the text uses a more prudent term and defines the Asian giant as "the challenge that defines an era."

The most urgent priority, to which it is necessary to respond, remains Russia.

The document incorporates the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, as well as the warlike use that Moscow is making of grain or gas supplies.

And it incorporates "China's most aggressive attitude towards the South Sea and the Taiwan Strait".

The British Parliament closed his TikTok account last August, and Downing Street's account has not been updated since Boris Johnson stepped down as prime minister last September.

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