by Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – TikTok accused the European Commission on Friday of failing to consult it over a decision to ban the Chinese mobile app on its employees’ work phones over cybersecurity concerns, a decision followed by a other EU body.
The app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is coming under increasing scrutiny from Western authorities, who fear the Chinese government is using it to harvest personal data. Beijing has regularly denied having such intentions.
The EU executive and Council of the EU said on Thursday that staff will also be required to remove TikTok from personal mobile devices that have access to the company’s services.
TikTok said neither institution warned or contacted him before making those decisions.
“So we’re really operating under a cloud. And the lack of transparency and the lack of due process. Frankly, you’d expect some sort of engagement on this issue,” policy director Caroline Greer told Reuters. public and government relations of TikTok.
She added that she could not respond to the agencies’ cybersecurity concerns because they had not made them explicit.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on TikTok’s statement.
(Report Foo Yun Chee, French version Augustin Turpin, edited by Kate Entringer)
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