France becomes latest country to ban TikTok on government devices

The French government is the latest to order an immediate ban on using TikTok on government devices, citing cybersecurity risks.

The government order, announced on Friday (March 24) by Minister for Public Services Stanislas Guerini, follows similar moves by the US, Canada, the UK and the European Commission in recent weeks.

Guerini’s office said the ban applied to “recreational apps,” but it singled out TikTok in the announcement. The Associated Press and AFP reported that the ban will also include Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, gaming apps like Candy Crush, and dating apps.

“Recreational applications do not have the level of cybersecurity and data protection sufficient to be deployed on management devices,” Guerini said in a statement.

These apps could pose privacy risks for government administrations and officials, Guerini added.

“Recreational applications do not have the level of cybersecurity and data protection sufficient to be deployed on management devices.”

Stanislas Guerini, French Minister for Civil Service

While Guerini said the ban poses a “critical issue” for the ministry, the minister said exceptions could be granted to certain government functions that use the apps for communications. guerini Posted the announcement of the government ban on Twitter.

market research company The B2B house estimates that TikTok had 14.97 million users in France in 2022 and is expected to reach 17.58 million by 2026.

For TikTok, the ban in France presents a new challenge for ByteDance-owned app as US lawmakers push legislation for a total ban on TikTok in the US.

“The House of Representatives will move forward with legislation to protect Americans from the Chinese Communist Party’s technological tentacles,” called US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Twitter on Sunday.

It follows TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony before a US House of Representatives committee on Thursday, where he was slammed for about five hours over China’s influence on the platform and its impact on children’s mental health.

Chew told lawmakers that nearly half the US population uses the app and a ban would “damage” the country’s economy.

We don’t believe a ban that hurts American small businesses, hurts the nation’s economy, silences the voices of over 150 million Americans, and reduces competition in an increasingly concentrated market is the solution to a solvable problem,” Chew said .

In response, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of the US House of Representatives Energy and Trade Committee, told Chew that the app “should be banned.”

“Indeed, the celebration of the 150 million American users on TikTok underscores the urgency for Congress to act. That’s 150 million Americans [the Chinese Communist Party] can collect and control sensitive information about what we ultimately see, hear and believe,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers added that TikTok parent company ByteDance is currently under investigation by the Justice Department for surveillance of American journalists.

However, the ban has faced opposition from some government officials, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who recently debuted on TikTok and said the bipartisan bill banning TikTok in the US “doesn’t feel right to me.”

“I think it’s important to discuss how unprecedented this move would be. The United States has never before banned a social media company from operating within our borders. And this is an app that over 150 million Americans are using,” said Ocasio-Cortez.

In addition to France and the US, a growing number of countries and government agencies have taken action against TikTok usage, including the UK, Canada, the European Union and New Zealand.

These governments have cited cybersecurity and privacy concerns, saying that TikTok users are at risk of having their information, including personally identifiable information and location, transferred to China for use by the Chinese military.

TikTok has repeatedly denied these allegations, saying the company is not owned by the Chinese government.

Chew noted last week that ByteDance is 60% owned by global institutional investors, including Blackrock, General Atlantic and Sequoia, while 20% is owned by the company’s founders and approximately 20% is owned by employees, including thousands of Americans.

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