(CNN) — The European Parliament decided, on Tuesday, to ban the Chinese TikTok application on the phones of its employees in all European Union institutions, due to “concerns related to electronic security,” as of March 20.
Parliament said, in a statement: “In light of electronic security concerns, especially with regard to data protection and its collection by third parties, we have decided, in coordination with other institutions, to ban the use of the TikTok application.” Parliament also recommended that its members and employees delete TikTok from their personal phones.
Last week, the European Commission advised its employees to delete TikTok from official phones.
A senior official of the Council of Europe told CNN that the Council’s General Secretariat, a body that assists the permanent representatives of the 27 European Union countries and is based in Brussels, “is preparing to implement measures similar to those taken by the Commission, and the application will be blocked on phones and staff will be required to delete it from personal devices.” that can access the Authority’s services.
The European Commission said, last week, that its decision “aims to protect the Commission from cyber security threats and procedures that may be exploited in cyber attacks.”
On the other hand, a TikTok spokesperson responded to the European Commission’s decision last week in a statement to CNN, saying that the Commission had been contacted “to set things straight and explain how we protect the data of 125 million people across the European Union.”
Previously, TikTok revealed to European users that employees in China had access to EU user data.
CNN has reached out to TikTok for comment on the European Parliament and European Commission’s decision but has not yet received a response.
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