The popular app TikTok, which is owned by China’s Bytedance, has become a subject of increased concern in recent months. According to the Swedish authority, the app presents a high intelligence threat and security risks, which is why employees within the Swedish Armed Forces are now prohibited from having it on their work mobile phones or tablets. If the app is already installed, it must be deleted immediately. The Finnish Armed Forces went a step further by banning TikTok on work phones due to data security reasons. The app is considered to pose a risk of surveillance due to the Chinese law that obliges Chinese companies to assist the country’s intelligence services. Other social media apps are not allowed on the Armed Forces’ work phone, as they use special phones for social media that are kept separate from internal systems. While many countries have issued warnings against using TikTok, neither Sweden nor Finland have issued a general ban for government employees.
Tiktok, whose parent company is China’s Bytedance, has faced increased concern in recent months. Employees within the Swedish Armed Forces are now prohibited from having the popular app on their work mobile phones.
The background to the ban is high intelligence threats and the security risks that this type of app entails, according to the Swedish authority.
The ban applies to installing the app on both tablets and mobile phones. If employees already have Tiktok on their work mobile, the app must be deleted immediately, according to the Swedish Armed Forces.
Already banned in Finland
The Swedish ban does not resonate across the Baltic Sea because Tiktok is already banned on the Finnish Armed Forces’ work phones, explains Henrik Gahmberginformation officer at the main staff of the Finnish Armed Forces.
– For data security reasons, he adds.
How long has it been like this and what are the risks?
– It has always been that way. After all, it is a Chinese app and has been considered to pose a risk of surveillance from the very beginning.
According to Chinese law, a Chinese company is obliged to assist the country’s intelligence services. Therefore, the risk of them extracting information both from the company but also about everyone who uses the app is considered to be high. However, China has denied the surveillance allegations.
What about other social media on the Armed Forces’ work phone?
– Our own work phones are not suitable for social media. We have special phones for social media with which we spread our own material, mainly Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. But we keep it separate from the internal systems, says Gahmberg.
– And the Armed Forces have not started with Tiktok.
Fakta | Tiktok
Tiktok is an app where users primarily create and share short video clips, often accompanied by music. Tiktok is owned by China’s Bytedance, which launched the app in China in 2016 under the name Douyin.
Tiktok is one of the world’s fastest growing social media platforms and is especially popular among children. The exact number of users is hard to come by when it comes to social media, but Tiktok is estimated to have around one billion active users. Facebook, by comparison, has almost three billion active users.
China’s influence over the app and, by extension, its ability to influence its users has been the subject of international debate for years.
Source: TT
No general ban in Sweden or Finland
A wide range of countries – including the US, Canada, Denmark, the Czech Republic and the European Commission – have said in one way or another that government employees should not have Tiktok because of the risk of surveillance.