Brussels – Belgium: Belgium banned TikTok from government devices over worries about cybersecurity, privacy and misinformation, after recent action by other authorities in Europe and the U.S.

TikTok will be temporarily ban on Belgium’s federal government devices

According to a post on Alexander de Croo’s website. The Chinese-owned TikTok app will be temporarily prohibited from devices owned or paid for by the Belgium’s federal government for at least six months. TikTok ban was based on warnings from the state security service and its cybersecurity center, which said the app could harvest user data and tweak algorithms to manipulate its news feed and content.

We are in a new geopolitical context where influence and surveillance between states have shifted to the digital world. We must not be naive, TikTok is a Chinese company which today is obliged to cooperate with the intelligence services. This is the reality. Prohibiting its use on federal service devices is common sense.

Alexander De Croo – Belgium

TikTok said user data is stored in the U.S. and Singapore and pointed to new measures to ease European concerns by storing user data in European data centers.

It is disappointed at this suspension, which is based on basic misinformation about our company. It’s readily available to meet with officials to address any concerns and set the record straight on misconceptions.

TikTok

The Chinese government cannot compel another sovereign nation to provide data stored in that nation’s territory.