More and more states are banning government employees from using the TikTok app on company cell phones. So far, the federal government does not see enough danger in the China program. In a ministry, the application can already be installed on service devices.

One thing you don’t have to discuss with TikTok: success with users. There is hardly an app that is as popular among teens and young adults. Short videos, often with music. Quickly recorded with the cell phone and shared on the web. The younger people are, the higher the popularity of TikTok, according to a survey.

TikTok seems to be the future. But there are serious doubts about the security of the application: the number of states and political institutions that ban TikTok on company phones is increasing significantly. The EU Commission so decided. Countries like the United States and Great Britain are also banning TikTok on the mobile phones of state employees.

Security authorities express concern

However, so far the federal government has not decided to take such a step with a clear signal effect, even if, according to information from WDR and NDR there are considerable concerns in security authorities regarding TikTok.

The federal government recently exchanged views with the company on security issues, a company spokeswoman confirmed. Among other things, the technical design of the application was verified. The result: After the test, the government seeks information from WDR and NDR Currently there is no danger to public safety, that is, there is no serious danger. But what the government sees: data protection issues. Therefore, a decision on an express ban is not pending at this time.

Faeser urges vigilance

Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser emphasized the potential risks during a visit to the US: she asked users of the app to be especially vigilant. Behind TikTok there is a group “that is state-owned and where data, of course, can also flow.” However, she considers that an explicitly stipulated ban on the app is “not proportionate”.

Currently, the minister does not see any urgent need to take action: because TikTok is not explicitly allowed on official mobile phones in the federal administration. Or to put it another way: the federal government currently doesn’t have to engage on the sensitive issue. So it’s more of a potential hazard.

But the situation seems a little more complicated: in fact, two ministries have asked the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) to examine the possible use of TikTok on companies’ mobile phones. This emerges from the federal government’s response to a written question from the internal policy spokesman for the Union faction, Alexander Throm (CDU), who WDR and NDR present. Consequently, the Ministry of Transport and Digital Affairs considers a use to be “theoretically permissible”; however, the app is not available for download on ministry service devices.

Apparently, the app can be used in the Ministry of Education: the test report gave “no reason” to put the app on a so-called internal “blacklist”, the response says. “Therefore, it is possible to install the application in the public area of ​​commercial devices.” The Federal Ministry of the Interior, in turn, decided, taking into account its own high security requirements, that TikTok could not be used on company cell phones at home, even without a BSI test.

Criticism of the government’s course

Throm criticizes the government’s unclear course and calls for “clarification as soon as possible.” While the Home Office excludes its use, officials from the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Education are allowed to use TikTok. “Either the app is secure or it’s not secure,” says Throm. “If there are doubts about the reliability of Chinese apps, they have no place in any ministry.”

In Germany there is no general guideline for the use of TikTok on service devices of the federal administration. This means that federal authorities basically decide on their own responsibility which apps to allow on service devices in their area of ​​responsibility. The ministries can control the applications through a portal in the BSI.

TikTok transmits a lot of information

Hannes Federrath from the University of Hamburg explains what exactly happens when using the app: “Every time I swipe to access new content, there is new access to the internet, to the TikTok servers.” A lot of information would be conveyed: how long a video was watched, where and what interests you. So the company learns quite a bit about its users.

Policy discussion on Chinese technology

The current discussion about the ban is reminiscent of the long debates about Chinese technology, such as that of the Huawei group, in communication networks. Several Western partners, notably the US, had called early on to dispense with components from China, for example, when expanding the 5G network. However, the federal government did not initially see any concrete risk and avoided a determination until the end.

Only recently has it been realized that the use of this vital infrastructure poses a risk to public safety, as reliance on autocracy would be too great. Chinese components are now also supposed to disappear from German networks, and a corresponding ban by the Federal Ministry of the Interior is supposed to take place in the coming months.

A ban on the use of TikTok on company cell phones would now be a clear political signal in the geopolitical struggle with the powerful autocracy: a funny video app would be branded as a danger or a propaganda tool by Beijing.

Chinese companies committed to cooperation

In the German security authorities, it is expected that TikTok will also be treated more strictly in the future. According to security circles, the company is clearly a Chinese company and therefore an instrument with which large-scale data can be collected around the world and could be used in an international crisis.

Consequently, control of TikTok and parent company Bytedance is in Chinese hands. The laws there, in turn, would force Chinese companies to cooperate with the autocracy and its secret services. Vice President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution Sinan Selen also drew attention to security risks on the sidelines of a security conference in Berlin at the request of the dpa news agency.

The parent company was already using data

A few months ago, the Chinese parent company had to admit that it had accessed user data from American journalists who had reported critically on the company, ostensibly to find out if and which employees had leaked information. Concerned journalist Emily Baker-White says: “They used data from my TikTok app to find out where I am and if I meet TikTok employees.”

Warnings from various countries

In addition to the US, other countries have repeatedly pointed out security risks; these include, in particular, the states of the Five Eyes Western intelligence alliance, made up of the US, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. The Chinese state is said to be able to access user data. Also, videos with themes that are a thorn in the side of the Chinese state would be suppressed on the app.

TikTok, on the other hand, points out when asked that they don’t consider themselves a Chinese company, after all, the company is based in the Cayman Islands.

The data protection officer is still checking

Federal data protection commissioner Ulrich Kelber has not yet had a clear position on the China app. Back in 2021, he had stated in a letter that apps like TikTok were being examined. However, the technical examination has not yet been completed. Even then it was clear that there would be gaps in data protection law. But such concerns apply to many social networks, even if most of them do not have such close ties to an autocracy.