Dutch civil servants will soon be banned from using a video platform owned by China. tik tak on their work phones, the Dutch Interior Ministry announced today, following similar decisions from other European countries.

The Dutch ministry said it discourages the use of all apps from “countries with an aggressive cyber program targeting the Netherlands or Dutch interests” on public phones.

Dutch intelligence AIVD classified it. China, Russia, Iran And North Korea in countries where there is such an aggressive cyber program that increases the risk of espionage.

This month Belgium banned TikTokowned by the Chinese company ByteDance, from phones and computers of federal government employees.

TikTok: the company is at a defining moment

TikTok CEO Zhou Zhiqiu said the company is at a pivotal moment as more and more U.S. lawmakers seek to ban the app on national security grounds.

Chiu said in a video posted early this morning on TikTok that the app now has over 150 million monthly active users in the US. “It’s like half the US is moving to TikTok,” Chiu said. TikTok announced in 2020 that it has 100 million American users.

Chiu, who will testify on Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said: “Some politicians have started talking about banning TikTok.”

Critics of TikTok fear that the data of its US users could end up in the hands of the Chinese government through the platform. TikTok has denied any allegations of espionage.

Start of research in Italy

At the same time, the Italian antitrust authority announced the opening of an investigation into TikTok on suspicion that it does not apply its own rules to control “dangerous content that induces suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.”

The investigation by the Italian antitrust authority is directed against the Irish company TikTok Technology Limited, which is responsible for relations with European consumers, as well as against English and Italian companies, the statement said. The Italian headquarters of TikTok today became the subject of an investigation by this body with the assistance of the financial police.

The investigation was launched following the appearance on the platform of “many videos of young people engaging in self-harm”, in particular in connection with the challenge called “French scar”, which went viral in Italy on this network, which is especially popular among minors.

Italian authorities accuse TikTok of not implementing adequate content monitoring systems, “mainly in the presence of particularly vulnerable users such as minors.” TikTok has not implemented “its own rules that require the removal of dangerous content related to issues, suicide, self-harm and eating disorders,” the authorities said in a statement.

TikTok is currently being targeted by many countries for national security reasons. Following the lead of many Western powers — the US, Canada and the European Union — the UK banned the app on government devices on Thursday.

Source: APE-MPE-Reuters-AFP.