After the European Union banned officials from using the social media giant TikTok, fearing that the Chinese authorities could gain access to users ' sensitive data ،The UK banned the famous program from government phones due to cybersecurity risks

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Edited by| Hugh Gey

 Europe section -  CJ journalist

London – March,16,2023

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     Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden said that the block on the Chinese-owned app - with a limited number of operational 'exemptions' - came after a review by experts.

He additionally revealed that from now on only third-party apps from an approved list would be allowed on all official devices across departments and arms-length bodies.

The restriction comes in response to concerns that users' sensitive data could be accessed by the authorities in Beijing via TikTok's firm's owner ByteDance, which has its headquarters in China.

Members of the Government and officials will also be discouraged from keeping the controversial video-sharing app on their personal phones, but they will not be banned from installing it.

It follows moves by the US, the EU, and Canada to stop officials from using the app on their work devices, and comes after the Government declared that China 'poses an epoch-defining challenge'.

Mr. Dowden told MPs the move was 'good cyber hygiene', adding: 'The security of sensitive government information must come first, so today we are banning this app on government devices. The use of other data-extracting apps will be kept under review.

'It's clear there could be a risk around how sensitive Government data is accessed and used by certain platforms.'

Parliament's TikTok account was shut down last year after MPs raised concerns about the firm's links to China. The official Downing Street TikTok page has not been updated since the summer. But the Ministry of Defence opened an account only last week.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who has called for a more robust attitude towards Beijing, welcomed the development. But he told MailOnline the ban had to be extended to the personal phones of ministers and senior civil servants to work effectively.

The restriction comes in response to concerns that users' sensitive data could be accessed by the authorities in Beijing from the firm's owner ByteDance, which has its headquarters in China.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden said that the block on the Chinese-owned app - with a limited number of operational 'exemptions' - came after a review by Government experts.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who has called for a more robust attitude towards Beijing, welcomed the development. But he told MailOnline the ban had to be extended to the personal phones of ministers and senior civil servants to work effectively.

However last month the new Science Secretary, Michelle Donelan, said prohibiting MPs and civil servants from using the popular social media platform altogether would be a 'very, very forthright move' which would require more evidence to justify.

No10 today said that parents should be reassured about the safety of their children using TikTok, saying the change was 'very much about the potential vulnerability of Government data'.

TikTok has said bans have been based on 'misplaced fears and seemingly driven by wider geopolitics', saying it would be 'disappointed by such a move' in the UK.

But Alicia Kearns, chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said: 'Significant questions remain around TikTok's ability to act as a data Trojan Horse. The Government has a duty to protect our people from the acquisition of our personal data by a hostile state.'

Asked about a possible ban earlier this week, security minister Tom Tugendhat told Times Radio he had asked the National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of GCHQ, to assess the risk.

'We need to make sure that our phones are not spyware, but useful tools for us,' he said.

It comes after the Biden administration threatened to ban TikTok in the US unless its Chinese owner sells its shares in the app.

It is the first time the administration has explicitly threatened a ban and represents a shift in its attitude towards the platform, which Republicans have said is a national security threat for the way it harvests data from US citizens.

The demand was made by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States and specifies that TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, sells its stake in the US version of the app.

It is unclear whether federal officials have given ByteDance a deadline to sell.

TikTok UK declined to comment ahead of the statement.