AFP, posted on Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 11:30 am

The UK is set to ban TikTok on government devices, according to British media on Thursday, ahead of an expected midday announcement on “government device security.”

The short video sharing app, hugely popular with young people, is accused by critics of giving Chinese authorities access to user data from around the world, which TikTok denies.

When asked about it during a recent visit to the United States, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government takes the security of the devices “seriously.” “We also look at what our allies are doing,” he added.

The Sunday Times reported over the weekend that cyber security experts had recommended to the government for such a ban.

In recent weeks, following in the footsteps of the US federal authorities, the European Commission and Parliament have already banned TikTok on the devices of their employees.

China on Wednesday urged the United States to stop “unwarranted attacks” on TikTok, after the US government asked its Chinese parent company to get rid of it under pain of a ban on national security grounds.

According to the Wall Street Journal and other American newspapers, the White House has given an ultimatum: if TikTok remains in the hands of its owner, the Chinese group ByteDance, it will be banned in the United States.

TikTok confirmed to AFP that the US government had recommended that the app be transferred by its owner.

Washington “so far has not provided evidence that TikTok threatens the national security of the United States,” a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy, Wang Wenbin, reacted to the press on Wednesday.

“The United States should stop spreading false information about data security issues, stop unwarranted attacks [contre TikTok] and provide an open, fair, equitable and non-discriminatory business environment” for foreign companies, the spokesperson added.