Czech cyber monitor warns against TikTok

Czech cyber security agency, NUKIB, warned against the usage of TikTok on Wednesday, siding with multiple Western agencies’ allegations about the Chinese social media platform posing a security risk.

TikTok can be a threat to users that have access to critical and significant infrastructure, NUKIB warned. “We do not collect any more data than other common apps, and often less,” said a TikTok spokesperson via email.

“The agency is concerned about potential security threat stemming from the use of TikTok primarily due to the amount of user data that is collected by the app as well as the way the data is handled,” stated NUKIB.

The cyber security agency recommended politicians and officials to stay away from TikTok, and the wider public to consider whether to use the app, as TikTok’s developer and administrator, ByteDance falls under Chinese legal jurisdiction.

TikTok has denied these spying allegations, calling them misconceptions, as both the app and the parent company are incorporated outside of China, so the Chinese state has no ownership in them.

Several countries have taken actions against TikTok lately, limiting its use, like the U.S. setting a 30-day deadline to purge the app from federal devices and systems, and the EU, European Parliament and European Commission banning the app from staff phones.