In a written statement from the Danish Ministry of Defense, the Cyber Security Center of the Danish Foreign Intelligence Service stated that the TikTok application “requests certain rights and access to user information on the device” and stated that it has suspicions of espionage.
In the statement, it was stated that “the use of the application in official units will be prohibited” and that “the application has no connection with the business and causes serious security concerns within the Ministry”.
In the statement, which asked the employees not to install TikTok on the phones used in the official service and to remove the installed ones, it was not specified how many people from the staff were using the application or not.
The Danish Parliament warned lawmakers and employees not to use TikTok on February 28 due to cybersecurity concerns.
Some Danish politicians also announced that they removed the TikTok application from their official phones as part of cyber security measures.
TIKTOK IS ON THE AGENDA DUE TO SECURITY AND PRIVACY CONCERNS
TikTok faces severe restrictions due to security and privacy concerns that it could be used to spread pro-Chinese views and access user information.
The European Union (EU) executive body, the EU Commission, imposed a TikTok ban on its employees on February 23 due to security concerns.
In Norway, the Minister of Justice had to apologize for failing to report that he had installed the TikTok app on his government-allocated phone.
The US Senate unanimously passed the bill on December 15, 2022, which bans federal government employees from downloading TikTok to state-owned devices due to “national security concerns.”
On December 28, 2022, the US House of Representatives banned the download and use of the TikTok application on official devices used by its members and employees. All 50 states in the US, including Maryland, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Indiana and Texas, have passed similar laws banning the use of TikTok on official phones. (AA)