British and Americans fear that the company that owns “Tik Tok” will provide users’ personal data to the Chinese government

British authorities have announced a ban on Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok on government mobile phones over security considerations, following similar steps taken by the United States and the European Union.

An official in the Prime Minister’s Office, Oliver Dowden, told Parliament on Thursday that the ban would apply to phones and other devices used by ministers and government employees, and that the ban does not apply to personal phones and devices. .

The moves by Britain and other Western governments are prompted by growing concerns that the app’s parent company, ByteDance, could provide users’ personal data to the Chinese government or spread propaganda and disinformation on behalf of Beijing.

China’s Foreign Ministry said today that the United States should stop cracking down on foreign companies, adding that Washington has yet to provide evidence that “Tik Tok” threatens national security.

According to TikTok, US President Joe Biden’s administration has asked the Chinese owners of “TikTok” to sell their shares in the app or face a possible ban in the United States.

This new step arises from concerns that the data of “Tik Tok” users in the United States could be transferred to the Chinese government, since “Tik Tok” has more than 100 million users in the United States.

And “Tik Tok” expressed disappointment with this new request from US officials, stressing that this will not allay concerns related to data security.