We must not be naive: TikTok is a Chinese company that today is forced to cooperate with Chinese intelligence services

What is particularly worrying is that Chinese companies – including Byte Dance, the parent company of Tik Tok – have an obligation to collaborate with China (and its intelligence services), which could therefore easily take advantage of this to collect the personal data of users of the application. Proof that we take the matter very seriously in the United States, we are thinking of a total ban on the application. The debate inevitably carried over to Europe. The European institutions have just banned their staff from installing the application on service devices.

In Belgium, the subject was discussed at length on Friday during a National Security Council (CNS). Who decided, on the basis of advice from State Security and the Center for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB), a temporary ban on installing Tik Tok on the service devices of federal public service personnel.

TikTok app now federally banned

”We must not be naive”

The prohibition applies to all devices whose purchase, subscription or use is partly or totally at the expense of the federal authorities. It will last six months and will then be reassessed. Personal devices used by government officials for work purposes are not affected by the ban, but such people are advised not to install the app.

”We are in a new geopolitical context where influence and surveillance between states have shifted to the digital world. We must not be naive: TikTok is a Chinese company that today is forced to cooperate with Chinese intelligence services. It is reality. Prohibiting its use on federal service devices is common sense. The security of our sensitive information prevails”, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in a statement.

The National Security Council asks the Data Protection Authority to investigate TikTok’s privacy policy.

The Prime Minister and the Minister of the Public Service will submit a directive to the Council of Ministers next week with a view to implementing this ban within the federal public authorities.

Communities and Regions will do the same

On Monday, the Walloon Minister-President, Elio Di Rupo (PS), himself a long-time active on TikTok, announced the government’s intention to ban the application for Walloon staff. On Thursday, Flanders did the same and on Friday, the Minister-President of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Pierre-Yves Jeholet (MR), confirmed that his government would follow suit.

“For security reasons, I ask the Minister of Defense to delete her TikTok account”

The Brussels Region will do the same, the offices of Minister-President Rudi Vervoort (PS) and Minister of Local Authorities and Digital Transition Bernard Clerfayt (Défi) said on Friday.