Danish cybersecurity authorities advise against using TikTok on official devices, and political parties will debate banning it in parliament.
The Cyber Security Centre, in cooperation with the National Police (PET), has created a handbook on digital security in mobile devices.
The Cyber Security Centre (CFCS) advises government employees not to install the TikTok application on official devices, including mobile phones, based on the CFCS's collaboration with state authorities on "security in state IT solutions," including the official mobile phones of ministers, civil servants, and others who may have a "need for a high level of security.".
The manual also states that the fewer applications installed on the device, the fewer “potential security vulnerabilities and software errors that could pose a security risk.”.
According to the Cyber Security Center, when evaluating applications to be installed on official mobile devices, the starting point is first and foremost whether the application fulfills a work-related need. After that, the publisher of the application and the phone functions that the application wants to access, for example but not limited to photos, camera, microphone, and files stored on the device, etc., should be considered and taken into account.
The European Commission bans TikTok
The European Commission announced on Thursday that it had decided to ban TikTok on employees' work phones. A spokesperson told AFP that the ban was due to concerns about data protection, and accordingly, European Commission employees must delete the application from their phones as soon as possible and no later than March 15.
TikTok is an app owned by the Chinese company Bytedance, which is suspected of passing information to the government in Beijing. The company believes the European Commission's decision is based on false grounds.
The Radical Party wants to discuss banning TikTok from the devices of Danish state employees and parliamentarians.
After the Danish Cyber Security Centre advised government employees not to use the Chinese app TikTok, the Danish Engineers Association warned against using the app. The Radical Party asked members of parliament and party members to stop using TikTok, according to party leader Martin Lidegaard, speaking to DR. Lidegaard also intends to discuss banning the app in the Danish parliament and stopping its use on the mobile devices of politicians and party members. For example, Samira Nawa, deputy leader of the Radical Party, deleted her TikTok account, which had 3,700 followers, following recommendations from the Danish Cyber Security Centre.
