The European Union's executive body banned TikTok from staff phones on Thursday as a cybersecurity safeguard amid Western authorities' increasing concerns about the video-sharing app owned by a Chinese tech firm.
The European Commission Corporate Management Board has prohibited employees from using the video-sharing app TikTok on any work-related devices, including those they bring from home, according to AP News.
Concerns that the massively popular app may be used to propagate pro-China ideas or scoop up users' data have led to intensified monitoring of TikTok in Europe and the United States.
The European Commission move occurs as China and the West dispute over surveillance balloons, computer processors, and other technologies.
Similar measures have already been taken in the US, where over half of the states and Congress have banned the app on official government devices amid TikTok spying fears, per The Independent.
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Employees at the European Commission have been ordered to uninstall the program from all company-issued computers and mobile devices, Politico reported.
This is the first time the Commission has banned staff apps.
European Commission Officials: TikTok Ban Prompted By Careful Study
European Commission spokespeople Eric Mamer and Sonya Gospodinova stated it was the outcome of a "careful" study. But they refused to provide the details that prompted the commission to conclude that the app posed serious cybersecurity and data concerns to the EU executive.
TikTok last week announced plans to construct two more data centers in Europe to address the TikTok spying fears of its Western client base.
The tech firm's General Manager for European Operations Rich Waterworth wrote on the company's blog that plans are "at an advanced stage" for a second data center to be established in Ireland in partnership with a third-party operator, per a previous HNGN report.
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