Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced Friday that his government has decided to ban the TikTok video application from the official cell phones of
public officials
for an initial period of six months .
In this way, Belgium became the last European government to adopt restrictive measures against TikTok due to doubts about the care with
the privacy of user data.
"
Let's not be naive
: TikTok is a Chinese company, which is obliged to cooperate with the Chinese intelligence services. It is the reality," De Croo said when announcing the measure against the video-sharing application.
The Belgian decision, however, does not affect the private mobile devices of
public employees or legislators.
The European Council (representing the countries of the European Union, EU) and the European Commission (the executive arm of the EU) have already instructed their employees to remove the TikTok app from professional devices.
TikTok's parent company, the Chinese firm ByteDance, is under close surveillance in Western countries over suspicions that authorities in China
might have access to user data.
TikTok is from ByteDance, from Chinese capitals.
AP Photo
In 2022, the United States banned the app from federal government devices, and some US lawmakers are trying to ban TikTok from operating across the country.
In November, TikTok admitted that some staff in China could access the
data of European users.
However, the company launched a huge effort to calm concerns and show that it undertook reforms to guarantee the privacy of its users.
Prohibition in the United States
Washington: Congress made the decision to ban it from official devices.
Photo EFE
By consensus, that is, without the need to submit the project to a vote, the United States Senate approved this Wednesday to ban the TikTok application on the official devices of federal government employees.
In any case, the new regulation
still must be endorsed
in the House of Representatives to become law.
The decision comes after several lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, suggested that data collected by the popular short video app could find its way into the hands of the Chinese government.
The rule approved today by the Upper House would prevent the download of the application on any device used for work purposes by federal government officials.
A few years ago, as part of his strategy to increase pressure on China, the then President of the United States, Donald Trump,
gave TikTok an ultimatum
to transfer its operations to American companies if he did not want to be banned in the country.
However, this did not end up happening, and today the application continues to be owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, which has assured on several occasions that it does not share user data with the authorities
of the Asian country.
TikTok has more than 100 million users in the United States and has become one of the most popular social networks in the world in a short time, especially among teenagers.
A spokesman for the social network of Chinese origin said that "it is concerning that, instead of encouraging the government to conclude the national security review of Tik Tok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically motivated ban, which
does
not He will do nothing for the national security of the United States."
"Tik Tok is loved by millions of Americans who use the platform to learn, grow in their activities and connect with creative content that brings joy," he said, referring to the bipartisan bill announced by Senator Marco Rubio.
look also
TikTok: how the app will block access to minors after the hour of use
TikTok ensures that moderation is improving: the "layers of content" arrive
