World News | Dutch government workers discouraged by apps like TikTok

THE HAGUE, March 21 (AP) — The Netherlands is moving to prevent central government employees from installing apps such as the popular video-sharing service TikTok on their work phones amid data security concerns.

Countries including the U.S. and U.K., as well as the European Union’s executive branch, have banned the use of TikTok on government workers’ phones amid concerns that its Chinese owner, ByteDance, could share user data with Beijing’s authoritarian government.

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“For civil servants employed by the national government, the installation and use on their mobile work devices of offensive web-programmed apps targeting the Netherlands and/or the interests of the country are immediately discouraged,” the government said in a statement on Tuesday, not by name. Identify TikTok.

The new policy comes after lawmakers asked about the possibility of banning central government workers from using the app on work devices.

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The advice follows an assessment by the national intelligence agency AIVD, which warned that apps from these countries, including China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, “present a heightened risk of espionage.”

A law implemented in China in 2017 requires companies to provide the government with any personal data related to national security. There’s no evidence TikTok has handed over such data, but it’s a cause for concern due to the vast amount of user data it collects.

In a statement, Dutch Minister of Digitalization Alexandra van Huffelen said the new policy “is not just about blocking an app. We choose a structure in which central government officials can be trusted to work in the digital world.” solution.”

The government said it planned to move quickly to set up all mobile devices provided to central government workers “in such a way that only pre-approved applications, software and/or functions can be installed and used”.

Two weeks ago, the Dutch government angered Beijing by announcing plans to impose additional restrictions on machines that make advanced processor chips, joining U.S. efforts to limit China’s access to materials used to make such chips. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)