Belgian federal government employees will no longer be allowed to use the Chinese-owned video app TikTok on their work phones, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Friday.
De Croo said the Belgian national security council had warned of the risks associated with the large amount of data collected by TikTokowned by Chinese company ByteDanceand the fact that the company is required to cooperate with Chinese intelligence agencies.
“That’s the reality,” the prime minister said in a statement.
“That’s why the federal government-provided ban on TikTok from using TikTok on phones makes sense. The safety of our information must come first.”
TikTok in a statement said it was disappointed with a decision it said was based on “fundamental misinformation”.
The company says it stores user data in the US and Singapore, and is building data centers in Europe.
A company spokesperson said: “The Chinese government cannot force other sovereign countries to share data stored on their territory.
The European Commission and the European Parliament last month banned TikTok from using employees’ phones due to growing concerns about the company and whether the Chinese government could collect users’ data or promote profits. their benefit or not.
Beijing has regularly denied having any such intentions.
Belgium’s Flemish regional government on Thursday announced it would restrict access to TikTok on employees’ phones, and other regional governments have been urged by De Croo to adopt similar rules.
The video-sharing app has been banned on work phones in the US and Canada, while it has been banned entirely in India.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
