EU employees banned from Tiktok and given deadline to delete app from phones amid ‘potential cyber attacks’

Popular video sharing app, TikTok, has been temporarily banned from the work phones of staff at the European Commission over concerns around potential cyber attacks. Employees have until March 15 to delete the app from their devices.

The Commission, which creates new European laws and manages EU policies, has blocked the Chinese-owned app on both staff phones and personal devices used for work. The move reflects increasing concern from Western officials over the platform.

TikTok is increasingly under scrutiny in Europe and the United States for security and data privacy concerns, with fears that the app could be used to promote pro-Beijing views or collect user data.

Commission spokesperson Sonya Gospodinova told the Sky News: "The reason why this decision has been taken is to... increase the commission’s cyber security. Also, the measure aims to protect the commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the commission."

Although employees have up until March 15 to delete the app from their devices, EU representatives did not clarify how that would be enforced on those who use personal phones for work.

Commission spokespeople declined to say whether a specific incident triggered the suspension or what was needed to get the ban lifted.

Meanwhile, TikTok, which has 125 million users in the 27-nation EU, said it wanted to "set the record straight". The app’s Brussels-based public policy official, Caroline Greer tweeted that the suspension "is misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions".

She said: “The European Commission’s suspension of TikTok on corporate devices is misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions. We have requested a meeting to set the record straight.

“We are continuing to enhance our approach to data security - establishing three data centres in Europe to store user data locally; further reducing employee access to data; and minimising data flows outside of Europe.”