The icon for the video sharing TikTok app is seen on a smartphone on Feb. 28. British authorities stated Thursday that they’re banning the Chinese-owned app from authorities cellphones on safety grounds.

Matt Slocum/AP

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Matt Slocum/AP

The icon for the video sharing TikTok app is seen on a smartphone on Feb. 28. British authorities stated Thursday that they’re banning the Chinese-owned app from authorities cellphones on safety grounds.

Matt Slocum/AP

LONDON — British authorities stated Thursday that they’re banning the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from authorities cellphones on safety grounds, following similar moves by the U.S. and European Union.

Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden advised Parliament that the ban applies with speedy impact to work telephones and different units utilized by authorities ministers and civil servants. He described the ban as a “precautionary move,” and stated it doesn’t apply to private telephones and units.

“Given the particular risk around government devices, which may contain sensitive information, it is both prudent and proportionate to restrict the use of certain apps, particularly when it comes to apps where a large amount of data can be stored and accessed,” Dowden advised British lawmakers.

The U.S. authorities mandated final month that workers of federal companies must delete TikTok from all government-issued cellular units. Congress, the White House, U.S. armed forces and greater than half of U.S. states already had banned the app.

The European Union, Belgium and others have additionally briefly banned the app from worker telephones.

The strikes have been prompted by rising issues that TikTok’s mother or father firm, ByteDance, would give person information akin to looking historical past and site to the Chinese government, or push propaganda and misinformation on its behalf.

The firm has insisted that such issues are based mostly on “misinformation” and stated it was taking steps to spice up safety of person information from the U.Ok. and Europe.

“We believe these bans have been based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics, in which TikTok and our millions of users in the U.K, play no part,” the corporate stated. “We remain committed to working with the government to address any concerns but should be judged on facts and treated equally to our competitors.”

China accused the United States on Thursday of spreading disinformation and suppressing TikTok following experiences that the Biden administration was calling for the short-form video service’s Chinese homeowners to sell their stakes in the popular app.

Last yr, Britain’s Parliament shut down its TikTok account, which was supposed to succeed in youthful audiences, simply days after its launch after lawmakers raised issues.