By John Ikani
The Swedish military has announced a ban on the use of TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned social media app, on work devices citing security concerns.
The decision was based on publicly available information on how the app handles user data and the activities of its parent company ByteDance.
The press secretary of the armed forces, Guna Graufeldt, explained that the use of mobile devices and tablets can be a security risk in itself, hence the ban on TikTok on work equipment.
This move follows similar decisions by other countries in the West.
The Norwegian Parliament had previously banned the use of TikTok on devices that can access parliamentary systems while France has prohibited public sector employees from downloading “recreational applications” on work phones, which includes TikTok.
Similarly, governments in the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Britain, New Zealand, and the European Commission have also barred officials from using TikTok on work devices due to concerns of the app’s ties with the Chinese Communist government.
TikTok has denied having any connections to the Chinese government but has acknowledged that some of its employees in China could access user data from Europe. In December 2020, it was reported that some employees had used the data to spy on journalists.
However, TikTok maintains that the Chinese government does not have access to or control over its data.
The Chinese government has denied that it has ever asked companies to hand over foreign data.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said that China “has never and will not require companies or individuals to collect or provide data located in a foreign country in a way that violates local law”.
Despite this, concerns over data privacy and security continue to mount, prompting governments to take action against the app.
