2023 looks set to be a year full of trials for China’s TikTok, a product of China’s ByteDance, which has faced more and more bans in the West over time.
Since the beginning of the year, TikTok has been banned in the US, Canada, UK, Brussels/Strasbourg (EU), etc., with even more countries that have blocked it in total, most of them from the government / official phones of civil servants and government officials, citing national security concerns.
TikTok has been accused of potentially spying on its users, violating message privacy and sending personal data to Chinese authorities. He has also been accused of undermining social cohesion through misinformation, promoting certain positions over others, and/or negatively influencing public opinion.
ByteDance and TikTok officials, for their part, have vehemently denied any such allegations.
Countries where it is prohibited
Pakistan
The authorities have repeatedly blocked him, but temporarily since October 2020, complaining that he promotes “immoral content”.
Afghanistan
After returning to power, the Taliban banned its use on the grounds that it would protect Afghan youth from “misleading” attempts.
European Union
The Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament have announced that they are banning its use on official telephone devices and personal phones used by employees of European institutions in the context of their work. MEPs and their colleagues have also been asked to “remove” the app in question from their mobile phones.
Canada
The government has announced that it is banning the use of the app on its official devices.
Great Britain
“We are banning the use of TikTok on government devices,” Secretary of State Oliver Dowden, whose area of expertise includes cybersecurity, said today.
Belgium
Finally, we wrote TikTok from the official phones of government officials a week ago. “Prohibition on the use of the application on federal devices […] was obtained with the support of the State Security and the Belgian Cybersecurity Center,” said Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Croix.
Taiwan
Starting December 2022, the authorities banned its use on government/government official devices.
United States
The federal government has ordered the removal of this app from all government/official phone devices. However, authorities have also imposed statewide bans in dozens of US states, excluding the app from the mobile phones of government employees.
India
In 2020, after a geopolitical dispute with China, India banned the app outright, citing a law that allows the government to block websites and apps that it believes threaten “the country’s sovereignty and integrity.”
Netherlands
Back in the fall of 2022, the government asked its employees and executives to remove the app from their mobile phones.
Denmark
The country’s Ministry of Defense banned its use in official devices.
Iran
Iranian censorship mechanisms do not allow the use of TikTok within the borders.
According to Time, AP, Politico.
Source: Kathimerini
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