OUR European Commission asks his bosses to remove the Chinese app tik tak from their telephone devices, European Commissioner Thierry Breton said. At a press conference, T. Breton said that the EU is focusing on cybersecurity, but did not specify if there were any incidents involving TikTok.

A European official previously told Politico that on Thursday morning, all employees were ordered to remove TikTok from their corporate devices. Commission officials must also remove TikTok from their personal devices if they have work-related apps installed. Alternatively, if they insist on keeping TikTok, employees can remove work apps from their personal phones.

Commission officials must remove the video-sharing app “as soon as possible” and by March 15. “From March 15, devices with the app installed will be considered incompatible with the corporate environment,” reads an email sent to employees, stressing that the decision was made to protect the Commission’s data.

Other European Union institutions, including the Council and Parliament, are likely to follow the ban on Chinese implementation. However, before such a policy is implemented, especially for the European Parliament, it may take much longer, notes Politico.

Governments in the West are increasingly concerned that Chinese tech companies are helping the Chinese government and intelligence agencies collect massive amounts of data from around the world.

In December, the US banned the app from all federal government devices over fears of possible spying from China, where TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is based.

TikTok CEO Su Zhiqiu will testify before the U.S. Congress on March 23 for the first time about potential risks to U.S. national security.

In the EU, Commission officials warned the TikTok CEO on his first visit to Brussels to comply with European law.

In the Netherlands, public infrastructure workers have been advised to avoid the TikTok app.

However, most EU countries – and Brussels – have so far avoided a TikTok ban.

^{According to REUTERS, POLITICO}