EU Commission Bans TikTok on Corporate Devices

The European Commission has banned the use of the TikTok application on its corporate devices, as well as on personal devices, enrolled in the Commission’s mobile device service.

According to a blog post published by the Commission on Thursday, the move aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats.

“The measure is in line with Commission strict internal cybersecurity policies for the use of mobile devices for work-related communications,” reads the article.

“It complements long-standing Commission advice to staff to apply best practices when using social media platforms and keep high-level cyber awareness in their daily work.”

The Commission also said it would keep under review the security developments of other social media platforms.

“The Commission is committed to ensuring that its staff is well protected against increasing cyber threats and incidents,” wrote Sonya Gospodinova, a spokesperson for the Commission, on Twitter on Thursday.

“It is, therefore, our duty to respond as early as possible to potential cyber alerts.”

Gospodinova and Eric Mamer, the chief spokesman for the EU Commission, highlighted the rationale behind the decision, adding the ban was “temporary” and “under constant review and possible reassessment.”

The move comes a few months after TikTok confirmed some employees outside the continent could access the data of European users.

Despite the acknowledgment, the company condemned the ban on Thursday.

“We haven’t been given any explanation. No one has set out the process,” wrote VP of public policy of Europe for TikTok Theo Bertram on Twitter.

“Before the suspension kicks in on March 15, we would like to be able to understand if there are any specific concerns and to be given the opportunity to address them.”

The ban comes amidst a turbulent beginning of the year for TikTok, which was fined €5m ($5.4m) by the French data protection regulator in January for failing to provide users with enough information about cookie collection.