European Commission (EC) announced its decision to suspend the use of the TikTok app on its corporate devices and personal devices enlisted with the Commission’s mobile device service.
« This action aims to save the commission from cybersecurity hazards and actions that could be used to cyber-attack the commission’s corporate environment, » the European Commission said in a communiqué published in Brussels.
The document says that security enhancements about other social media platforms will also be under constant review.
As explained in the EC, « this measure is in line with the commission’s strict internal cybersecurity policy regarding the use of mobile devices for work-related communications. »
The measure, Brussels notes, « complements the commission’s long-standing advice to employees to apply best practices when using social media platforms and maintain a high level of cybersecurity awareness in their daily work. »
« The Commission is dedicated to confirming that its staff is well guarded against growing cyber threats and incidents. (…) Today’s suspension is an internal corporate decision strictly limited to the use of devices registered with the Commission’s mobile device service, » the EC said.
In a previous post, Short video-sharing service TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance Ltd., plans to build two data centers (DPCs) in Europe to address security concerns, reports The Wall Street Journal.
TikTok announced on Friday, reporting that the app has 125 million monthly active users in the European Union and 150 million in Europe as a whole.
As part of the new EU law on digital services, online platforms had until February 17 to publish data on the number of their users. After that, the largest companies with more than 45 million users must meet additional requirements.
TikTok is trying to avoid the problems in Europe that plague it in the US, where Congress is considering a ban on the app over concerns that ByteDance Ltd. may spy on or influence users on behalf of the Chinese authorities.
TikTok executives, including chief executive officer Show Tzu Chu, visited Brussels last month, telling EU leaders they will do more than what is legally required to comply with the new rules.
TikTok has previously spoken about its intention to build a data center in Ireland. On Friday, the company announced plans to build a second data center in the country and negotiations to build a third data center in Europe without specifying its likely location.
TikTok noted that it is storing global user data in Singapore and the US but will begin migrating European data to its servers in Europe this year.
