Netherlands joins the growing list of countries to ban officials from using TikTok

The Netherlands has directed its government officials to cease using TikTok and similar apps on their mobile work devices to prioritize the privacy and security of the country’s data.

According to Boomerang, the Dutch government made a statement on Tuesday that apps from companies based in countries with an “offensive cyber program” represent an increased espionage risk in the Netherlands.

TikTok, the popular short-form video app, has put some Western countries in a perturbing state as regards national security. Concerning this, the Dutch Intelligence service, AIVD, has advised the government that its officials should stop using the app due to its Chinese interests.

“Recent parliamentary questions and international developments have led us to make a careful assessment that goes further than advising against one application,” Van Huffelen, state secretary for Kingdom Relations and Digitalization of Netherlands, said on Tuesday. She called this step of only allowing pre-approved apps on government phones a structural solution for civil servants.

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Countries that have placed a ban on TikTok

Similar to the Netherlands, the European Union, the United States, Denmark, Belgium, and Canada have also issued orders prohibiting the utilization of the app from reducing the exposure of sensitive information from being exposed when the app is downloaded, especially on government devices.

TheCable reports that the United Kingdom ban was recently implemented based on a report by the UK Secretary of State in the Cabinet Office in a statement to the UK’s House of Commons with an immediate ban of the app on government official devices.

New Zealand announced on the 17th of March 2023 and said the ban would take effect by the end of this month.

Belgium’s Prime minister announced last week that the Chinese-owned app would be banned from devices owned or paid for by Belgium’s federal government over worries about cybersecurity, privacy, and misinformation for at least six months.

Denmark’s defense ministry said, “there were weighty security considerations within the defense ministry combined with a very limited work-related need to use the app,” and with this, employees “are required to uninstall TikTok on service phones and other official devices as soon as possible if they have previously installed it”.

The software has also been blocked from government-owned devices in over half of the US states. The FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have both issued warnings that ByteDance -TikTok’s parent company, may give China’s autocratic government access to customer data via TikTok.

There are also concerns over TikTok’s content and potential harm to teens’ mental health. In a report released in December, researchers from the organization Center for Countering Digital Hate stated that there had been 13.2 billion views of eating disorder-related information on the site.

After the US statement, Canada likewise stated that TikTok usage is prohibited on government-issued devices because it poses an “intolerable” danger to security and privacy. Also, future downloads of the application by employees would be prohibited.

India banned TikTok and hundreds of other Chinese apps in 2020 due to privacy and security concerns, including the messaging app WeChat. The embargo was implemented soon after a battle between Chinese and Indian troops along a contentious Himalayan border caused the death of 20 Indian soldiers and injured others. Although India permitted the business an opportunity to answer inquiries on privacy and security requirements, the ban became permanent in January 2021.

It is evident that countries are worried about their national infrastructure, sensitive data, secret information, and national identities by prioritising cybersecurity which helps prevent cyber war and attacks on government assets and investments.

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