EU Commission bans employees from using TikTok

EU Commission bans employees from using TikTok

Brussels, 2.3.2023

The European Commission has temporarily banned employees from using TikTok on their company phones, citing security concerns. The agency is the first institution in the European Union to announce a TikTok ban.-

The measure aims to protect the Commission – the executive arm of the EU – from cyber attacks. Employees now have until March 15 to delete TikTok from their work devices, as well as any personal devices that use work-related apps and services. This therefore affects around 32,000 permanent and temporary workers currently working for the Commission.

The US federal government and some states acted faster, because the app was banned from government devices a few weeks ago and concerns were expressed that data could be shared with the Chinese government.

TikTok is owned by the China-based company ByteDance. Recently, TikTok admitted it used its app to spy on journalists to uncover inside sources of leaks.