La European Commission has ordered at all employees using Tik Tok, the popular Chinese social network, by uninstall as soon as possibleapplication from their corporate and personal devices.
The news had been announced by Euractiv site and subsequently confirmed by the European executive.
Employees were asked by email to uninstall the social network no later than March 15th specifying that in the event of non-compliance, business applications such as Commission email and Skype for Business will no longer be available.
At risk the privacy and data protection of the European Union
The European Commission considers high the espionage risk by the China. TikTok, owned by the Chinese Bytedance, has long been under close scrutiny by Western governments and is accused of collecting data on behalf of the Chinese authorities.
The request to uninstall TikTok, therefore, arises from need to protect data security of the EU. The email text sent to employees specifies precisely the IT security risk: "To protect the Commission's data and increase its IT security, the Commission's Corporate Management Board has decided to suspend the TikTok application on company devices and on personal devices enrolled in the Commission's mobile telephony".
Breton: Pay attention to the protection of our data
The European Commissioner for the Internal Market was questioned on the issue Thierry breton gave the reasons for the announcement: “The European Commission is an institution and as such it has a strong point focus on cyber security protection and it is on this that we have made this decision; we are extremely careful to protect our data. The decision on the ban on TikTok, Breton explained, was taken by the EU commissioner Johannes Hahn.
Il prohibition of Brussels follows the one imposed in November 2022 in the United States, where the Chinese application was banned on smartphones, tablets and other devices owned by state and federal governments, including those of the House.
Therefore, the recent meetings of the CEO of TikTok did not help Shou Zi Chew with the leaders of the European Union to restore a climate of trust in the social network.
