TO TikTok The problems accumulate, and also the prohibitions. On the one hand, after it has been banned by various governments and official bodies in North America and Europe, now faces a possible outright ban in the United States. At least, this is what managers of the social network have communicated to the Wall Street Journal that would happen if they do not follow what they have been asked by the Biden Administration: to separate from their parent company, ByteDance, something that they have been avoiding doing for years.
This threat, for the moment veiled, implies that the company has not been able to overcome the reluctance towards it that they have in the White House. Also that politicians are concerned about the influence of the Chinese government on the app. Although not only the Americans, as demonstrated by the veto on its installation already issued in the European Union, Canada, the United States, Germany or Belgium, among others.
For now, ByteDance is considering how it can respond to this new demand, and has to take into account that the Chinese government may prohibit the company from selling TikTok. Meanwhile, this kind of ultimatum from the US authorities may reopen the interest that some companies had in 2020, when the Trump government tried to force their sale. Among them, Microsoft.
Meanwhile, TikTok has added yet another new government ban. In this case, from the UK, which has decided that it cannot be installed or used on government mobile devices. In a statement, the authorities stress that they have made this decision after carrying out a security review of TikTok, which made clear the risks that social media apps offer to mobile devices where government data is stored.
The British government has described the measure as “a preventive precaution”, since the information that is usually stored in government devices is sensitive. It is also a measure to reinforce the management of third-party apps on their computers.
According to him Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Dowden«The security of sensitive government information must be a priority, so as of today we are banning this app on government devices. The use of other apps that extract data will be kept under review«.
Of course, UK government employees and ministers can install and use the app on their personal devices if they want to. The rules also allow exceptions when the app is needed in law enforcement procedures, and for security teams that have approved its use.
As we have mentioned before, the British is the last government to ban TikTok on its official devices. Last December, the US Senate was the first body to make it illegal to download to government mobile devices. In February, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeauinformed federal government employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones.
The workers of the European Parliament cannot install the app on their mobile work computers either, and the Assembly has also asked its staff, and legislators, to uninstall TikTok from their personal devices if they use work apps on them. But the European authorities have also threatened to ban it in member countries if they do not comply with European laws.
