TikTok banned from EU Commission phones over cybersecurity

By KELVIN CHAN
AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — The European Union’s executive branch has temporarily banned TikTok from phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure. The move reflects widening worries from Western officials over the Chinese-owned video sharing app. The European Commission said Thursday that it suspended the use of TikTok on devices issued to staff or personal devices that staff use for work. It follows similar moves in the U.S., where more than half of the states and Congress have banned TikTok from official government devices. European Commission staffers are required to delete TikTok from private devices that they use for professional business by March 15. TikTok’s Brussels-based public policy official tweeted that the suspension “is misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions.”