NATO member Denmark’s Defense Ministry has banned its employees from having TikTok on their work phones as a cybersecurity measure
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — NATO member Denmark’s Defense Ministry on Monday banned its employees from having the video-sharing app TikTok on their work phones as a cybersecurity measure.
This is the latest government-related ban on security and data privacy for the app, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd.
In a statement, the ministry said that the Scandinavian country’s Center for Cyberlegal device.”
The military agency is part of Denmark’s foreign intelligence service.
The ministry said it would “prohibit the use of the app in official units,” saying “there are serious security considerations within the ministry of defense coupled with a limited need related to at work to use the app.”
It said employees “are required to uninstall TikTok on service phones and other official devices as soon as possible if they have previously installed it.”
It was not immediately known how many members of the defense ministry have installed TikTok, or whether the ban also applies to the armed forces.
Last month, the Danish Parliament urged lawmakers and employees in the 179-member assembly against putting TikTok on work phones as a cybersecurity measure, citing “an espionage risk.”
Last week, the US said government agencies had 30 days to remove TikTok from federal devices and systems. More than half of the US states, Congress, and the executive branch of the European Union have already banned it from tools used for official business amid concerns that TikTok could be used to promote views that pro-Beijing or sweeping users’ information.
TikTok’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.