US and Canada among countries to ban TikTok on federal devices

The United States, Canada, and the European Union have all issued orders to ban the Chinese-owned video sharing app, TikTok, on all federal devices, as “privacy and cybersecurity concerns about the video-sharing app grow.”

Bytedance, the company that owns TikTok

TikTok is owned by a Chinese company called Bytedance, which has asserted itself as an independently managed company and is not under the direction of the CCP, disputed claims that it collects, holds, and tracks user data.

Bytedance has long maintained that it does not collect “more user data than other social media companies” and does not share data with the Chinese government, nor does it hold its data in mainland China.

Despite the company’s insistence that it is not influenced by Beijing, many countries are reluctant to trust the app on government phones because it is highly likely it has ties to China.

Western countries that have banned TikTok

At the end of February, the US government cited data security concerns and issued an order that gave its employees 30 days to delete TikTok from any government-issued devices and federal systems. Some lawmakers are pushing for more regulations, advocating for the ban to cover all American devices, not just government-issued technology.

Following the US announcement of the TikTok ban, Canada announced on February 27 the same ban on all federal devices, citing an “unacceptable” risk to privacy and security concerns. Government employees will reportedly soon be prohibited from having the app at all.

The European Union announced the next day, Tuesday, February 28, that it will be following suit. The three top bodies of the EU, the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the EU Council, have also issued a ban of the TikTok app on government devices, to go into effect March 20. The European Union has recommended all government staff to delete the app from their personal devices.

Asia and the Middle East banning TikTok

India imposed a 2020 ban on TikTok and several other Chinese apps, including the widely used WeChat, in 2020 due to privacy and security concerns — unless the companies responded to questions on India’s privacy and security requirements. The Chinese companies did not honor the demands, and India permanently banned TikTok and the other apps in January 2021.

Taiwan issued a ban of TikTok and all other Chinese-made software on the public sector and on all government devices in December 2022, after the FBI warned the app poses a national security risk.

Pakistan has banned and allowed TikTok at least four times since 2020, due to concerns that the app “promotes immoral content”. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership imposed a ban on TikTok to protect young people from “being misled”.