by Australia has become the latest country to ban TikTok from federal government devices, as concerns over the privacy and security of the Chinese-owned video-sharing app grow.
The United States, Canada, Britain and New Zealand – which with Australia form the so-called “Five Eyes” information sharing partners – have taken similar steps against TikTok in recent weeks.
Experts fear that sensitive information could be exposed when the app is downloaded, especially on government devices.
TikTok disputes allegations that it collects more user data than other social media companies and called for the bans “basic wrong information,” saying these were decided without “any discussion or evidence”.
TikTok is owned by Chinese technology company Bytedance but insists it is run independently and does not share data with the Chinese government. He is currently working on a project to store US user data in Texas, which he says will put him out of China’s reach.
However, many countries are still wary of the platform and its ties to China. Western tech companies, including Airbnb, Yahoo, and LinkedIn, are also leaving China or downsizing operations there because of Beijing’s strict privacy law, which specifies how companies can collect and store data.
Here are the countries and regions that have already announced or fully or partially banned the app.
Australia
On April 4, Australia banned TikTok from all devices owned by the federal government due to security concerns.
A Notice The Attorney-General’s Department said TikTok poses security and privacy risks due to its “extensive collection of user data and exposure to extrajudicial instructions from a foreign government that contravene Australian law”.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said in a statement, based on advice from intelligence and security agencies, that the ban would take effect “as soon as practicable”.
Estonia
At the end of March, Estonia’s outgoing IT and foreign trade minister, Kristjan Järvan, told a local newspaper that TikTok would be banned from state-issued smartphones for public officials.
Speaking to Eesti Päevaleht, however, the minister said: “If a public official uses his private phone while working, we will not really look into that”.
United Kingdom
On March 16, Oliver Dowden, the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State in the Cabinet Office, announced in a statement to the United Kingdom’s House of Commons an immediate ban on the app on official government devices.
“This is a precautionary measure. We know there is already limited use of TikTok across government, but it is also good cyber hygiene,” the Minister said in his address to MPs.
The ban is based on a report by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, which found “there may be a risk in how certain platforms receive and use sensitive government data”.
While the UK was one of the first countries to ban the use of other Chinese-owned technology such as Huawei, critics** cited the delay in banning TikTok** compared to allies .
EU institutions
The European Parliament, the European Commission, and the Council of the EU, the EU’s top three bodies, banned TikTok on staff devices, citing cybersecurity concerns.
The European Parliament’s ban came into force on 20 March. It also “strongly recommends” that members of parliament and staff remove the app from their personal devices as well.
France
On March 24, the French government banned the installation and use of “entertainment” applications such as TikTok, Netflix and Instagram on the work phones of 2.5 million civil servants.
The ban, which was announced through a “binding” directive, came into effect immediately and does not apply to the personal phones of state employees.
France is the first country to step up its efforts to ban other “entertainment” applications such as Netflix from government devices.
“Recreational applications do not present adequate levels of cyber security and data protection for deployment on administrative equipment. So these requests could be a risk to the protection of the data of those administrations and their public officials,” the French government said in a statement.
France’s Minister of Public Service, Stanislas Guerini, tweeted that the move was aimed at ensuring “cyber security” for the country’s administration and civil servants.
The Netherlands
The Dutch interior ministry has discouraged the use of all apps from “countries with an aggressive cyber program aimed at the Netherlands or Dutch interests” on government-issued phones.
He did not identify TikTok by name, but the advice came after an assessment by the national intelligence agency AIVD warned that apps from countries such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran had an “elevated risk of espionage”.
“The central government must be able to do its work securely, including through its mobile devices,” said Alexandra van Huffelen, the Minister of Digitalization of the Netherlands on 21 March.
Eventually, the government wants all civil servant business phones to be configured so that only previously authorized applications, software or features can be installed and used.
Norway
On March 23, the Norwegian parliament banned Tiktok from work devices, after the country’s Ministry of Justice warned that the app should not be installed on phones issued to government employees.
Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl said in a statement that “in their risk assessments… Norway’s intelligence services identified Russia and China as key risk factors for Norway’s security interests”.
She added that “they also designate social media as a forum of choice for potentially dangerous actors and others who wish to influence us with disinformation and fake news”.
Civil servants can still use TikTok if necessary for professional reasons, but only on devices not connected to the government network, the ministry said.
Norway’s capital Oslo and its second largest city, Bergen, have encouraged city employees to remove TikTok from their work phones.
Belgium
On March 10, Belgium announced it was banning TikTok from devices owned or paid for by the Belgian federal government for at least six months, citing concerns about cybersecurity, privacy and misinformation.
Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said the ban was based on warnings from the state security service and its cyber security center, which said the app could harvest user data and change algorithms to manipulate its news feed and content.
Responding to the Belgian announcement, TikTok said it was “disappointed by this suspension, which is based on basic information about our company,” adding that they were “readily available to meet with officials to address any concerns and setting the record straight on misunderstandings”.
Denmark
On March 6, the Danish Ministry of Defense announced that there would be a “ban on the use of the app by official units” as a cyber security measure.
In a statement, the ministry said the Scandinavian country’s Cyber Security Center – which is part of Denmark’s foreign intelligence service – had assessed the risk of espionage.
The ministry said there were “severe security circumstances within the ministry of defense as well as a very limited work-related requirement to use the app,” and that employees are required to “uninstall TikTok on service phones and other official devices that as soon as possible if it is already installed.”
United States
On March 13, the House of Representatives passed a sweeping bill that requires TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company to exit the platform or face a national ban.
The bill still needs to be approved in the Senate, which **has previously opposed a ban** on free speech concerns.
If both chambers clear the bill, President Joe Biden has said he will sign it into law.
More than half of the 50 US states have already banned TikTok from government devices due to data security concerns, with the US government giving agencies until the end of March to remove the app. deleted from federal devices and systems.
Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that ByteDance may share TikTok user data with the authoritarian Chinese government.
There are also concerns about the content of TikTok and whether it harms the mental health of teenagers. Researchers from the nonprofit Center to Combat Digital Hate said in a December report that eating disorder content had garnered 13.2 billion views on the platform.
About two-thirds of US teenagers use TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center and the app has 170 million users nationwide.
Canada
Following the US move, Canada announced on February 28 that it was banning TikTok from all government-issued devices, saying the app poses an “unacceptable” risk to privacy and security.
Employees will be prevented from downloading the application in the future.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the time that further action may or may not follow.
“I suspect that as the government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones that many Canadians from business to individuals will think about the security of their data themselves and maybe make choices,” Trudeau said.
“I’m always a fan of giving Canadians the information they need to make the right decisions for them,” he said.
New Zealand
On March 17, New Zealand announced that TikTok would be banned from government lawmakers’ phones at the end of the month.
Unlike other countries such as the UK, the ban does not affect all government workers and only affects around 500 people in the parliamentary complex.
Chief Executive of the Parliamentary Service Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said officials could make special arrangements if they needed TikTok to fulfill their democratic duties.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he didn’t have TikTok on his phone and said, “I’m not that hip and trendy”.
India
In 2020, India banned TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps, including the messaging app WeChat, due to privacy and security concerns. The ban came shortly after a clash between Indian and Chinese troops at a disputed Himalayan border killed 20 Indian soldiers and injured dozens.
The companies were given a chance to respond to questions about privacy and security requirements but the ban was made permanent in January 2021.
Taiwan
In December 2022, Taiwan banned the public sector on TikTok after the FBI warned that TikTok posed a national security risk.
Government devices, including mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers, are not allowed to use Chinese-made software, including apps like TikTok, the Chinese equivalent of Douyin, or Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle content app.
Pakistan
Pakistani authorities have temporarily banned TikTok at least four times since October 2020, citing concerns that the app promotes immoral content.
Afghanistan
The Afghan Taliban leadership banned TikTok and the game PUBG in 2022 on the grounds that it would protect youths from “getting lost”.
