No.10 says it is monitoring TikTok nationwide safety menace after US ban

Downing Street has warned that Britain’s high safety boffins are monitoring any potential nationwide safety menace from social media app TikTok, after the US handed a landmark invoice that might result in its ban in months.

This week the House of Representatives handed a brand new regulation giving the Beijing-based homeowners of TikTok, ByteDance, six months to promote the social media web site or face it being blocked from US customers’ telephones.

While TikTok boss Shou Zi Chou has insisted that knowledge on the social media platform is “free from outside manipulation”, many China hawks fear that the hit app might be utilized by the Chinese Communist Party for nefarious means.

Following Joe Biden saying he’ll signal the US anti-TikTok Bill into regulation, strain is mounting on Britain to observe swimsuit.

The Government banned the app from civil servants’ and ministers’ telephones in March final 12 months, nonetheless nonetheless permit the general public to obtain it.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman has now stated that whereas utilizing the app stays a “personal choice’ for Brits, security chiefs will be keeping “all these issues under review”.

However Mr Sunak’s spokesman warned a US-style ban isn’t off the playing cards.

He informed reporters: “Obviously it’s a matter for the US lawmakers in terms of the Bill today. For our part, ensuring the security of UK data is a priority for the government.

“Our experts will continue to monitor threats to our data and we will not hesitate to take action if necessary to protect our national security.”

Yesterday a Tory peer Lord Bethell backed the United States’ ban, warning: “The lack of transparency and respect for normal business practices have led to questions about surveillance, influence and harmful algorithms. As a society, it’s time to address these concerns and prioritise our national security and safety of our children.”

When the Government banned TikTok from official telephones final 12 months, former Tory chief Sir Iain Duncan Smith stated the ban didn’t go far sufficient.

He stated the UK “can’t stop there”, including: “The reality is that even though government phones will have this taken out of them… the key thing here is that private telephones remain on their desks. Private phones are used for communications.

“I honestly don’t believe… that these phones will never be used for government business. They will be, they are, and there’s no way of stopping that to some degree.

“So can he not now say any government minister or senior official that has their private phone with TikTok should remove it because that gets rid of the risk.”

FBI director Christopher Wray beforehand informed a US Senate Committee that the app “screams” of a nationwide safety concern.

He warned that the Chinese authorities might use TikTok to manage the information of tens of millions of US customers.

A spokesman for TikTok stated: “With Project Clover, we’re investing £10 billion in industry-leading data safeguards for our UK and European users, including independent oversight of our data security from UK cybersecurity firm NCC Group”.

TikTok’s parent company Bytedance is around 60% owned by global institutional investors, such as Blackrock and General Atlantic, 20% owned by employees around the world, including 7000 Americans, and 20% owned by the founder. In Europe, TikTok is included within the UK.