EXPERTS have backed a ban on TikTok from Government phones saying it’s a “reasonable” step to protect national security.
The Chinese-owned app won’t be allowed on top phones handling sensitive information, Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden confirmed on Thursday morning.
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The risk to individual members of the public is small, according to BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.
While the app isn’t banned for everyday use, experts are still concerned Beijing might be manipulating what people see.
The app – owned by a company called ByteDance – has previously been accused of manipulating the algorithm so that kids in Europe and the US are pushed towards silly content while teens in China see more educational stuff.
“The individual risk to a random UK teenager is small,” said Lisa Forte, from the BCS’ Information Security specialist group.
“The risk to the ordinary person lies not in the data harvesting – which is not unique to TikTok anyway – but more in the manipulation of the algorithm to young people in the UK see certain types of content.
“There are suggestions that in China the algorithm prioritises educational content whereas in Europe it prioritises dance videos and polarising material.”
The ban comes after a string of other countries have done the same thing – including the EU and the US, over fears about the amount of data that they are getting about top officials.
TikTok owner ByteDance has long insisted that it does not keep data in China or share it with Beijing.
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Baroness Beeban Kidron from child digital safety organisation the 5Rights Foundation questions why the general public are not given the same protection as politicians.
“It does raise questions about the security and privacy of other users if they are worried that the data it sucks up on your phone from your other activity is so huge, why are we not afforded the same level of privacy?,” she told Channel 4 News.
“What I’m most worried about is children.
“We’ve seen research, even in the last month that shows that within minutes of being on TikTok, TikTok knows so much about you, a 13-year-old child, that it can actually start sending you things, into a spiral of self harm and I think if it knows that much about kids, we’ve got to wonder whether its data practices are good enough and I think that this sends a signal that they’re not.
“I think that’s where I’d ask whether the data regulation laws that we have in place, particularly as regards to children, are being fully complied with by TikTok.”
A spokesman for TikTok said: “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 UK, play no part.
“We remain committed to working with the Government to address any concerns but should be judged on facts and treated equally to our competitors.”
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