The Danish parliament on Thursday urged lawmakers and employees of the 179 member states not to have TikTok on their work phones as a cybersecurity measure, citing “the danger of espionage.”
The popular Chinese video-sharing app has been criticized in Europe and the United States over security and data privacy amid concerns that TikTok could be used to spread pro-North Korean views or wipe out users’ information. are increasing their scrutiny.
Danish parliamentary speaker Søren Gade said an email was sent to parliamentarians and officials on Tuesday “strongly advising them to remove the TikTok app if they have it installed.”
The parliament acted on the Danish Cybersecurity Center’s assessment that it was an espionage risk. The center belongs to the Danish Foreign Intelligence Service.
“We have adapted accordingly,” Gade said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear how many Danish parliamentarians have installed TikTok. In recent days, several politicians have publicly claimed to have removed the app from their work phones for cybersecurity reasons.
Earlier this month, the European Union (EU) executive branch announced a temporary ban on TikTok from mobile phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure.
The EU move follows similar steps in the US, where more than half of the country’s 50 states and their legislatures have banned TikTok on official government terminals.
Norway, which is not a member of the 27-member EU, was forced to apologize earlier this month after its minister of justice failed to disclose that it had installed TikTok on its official phones.
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