Which international locations have banned TikTok? US strikes forward as France joins the listing

It has additionally banned the “leisure” use of Twitter, Instagram, Netflix, and Sweet Crush.

The ban will come into power instantly, the Ministry of Public Sector Transformation and the Civil Service wrote on Twitter on Friday (March 24).

“In an effort to assure the cybersecurity of our administrations and civil servants, the federal government has determined to ban leisure purposes resembling TikTok on the skilled telephones of civil servants,” Stanislas Guerini mentioned on Friday.

The worldwide social media big has been criticised and questioned by quite a few governments worldwide, together with these within the US and the UK.

The video-sharing app, owned by Chinese language firm ByteDance, has additionally been banned from UK Authorities telephones over safety causes. 

US lawmakers confirmed this week that they’re transferring ahead with plans for a nationwide ban on the app, prompting customers together with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to take to the app to protest the proposed ban.

For years, American officers have raised issues that knowledge from the favored app might fall into the palms of the Chinese language authorities.

The US laws would give the US commerce division new powers to ban TikTok and “different foreign-based applied sciences in the event that they pose nationwide safety threats”.

Whereas ByteDance has tried its finest to settle lawsuits and appease issues, some nations have determined to ban it both completely or partially.

Here’s a complete have a look at all of the international locations which have banned TikTok.

United Kingdom

TikTok was banned from UK authorities telephones on March 16.

Safety minister Tom Tugendhat had advised Sky Information he had requested the Nationwide Cyber Safety Centre (NCSC) to look into the app. He mentioned it was “completely important” to maintain the UK’s “diplomatic processes free and protected”.

United States

New laws has been backed that will see a nationwide ban of the platform however fears have been additionally raised final month.

On February 28, the US authorities revealed that it had ordered all of its federal staff to take away TikTok from their government-issued telephones to guard confidential knowledge.

A spokesperson for China’s international ministry criticised the transfer, saying: “We firmly oppose these mistaken actions. The US authorities ought to respect the ideas of market financial system and truthful competitors, cease suppressing the businesses, and supply an open, truthful, and non-discriminatory surroundings for international corporations within the US.”

They added: “How uncertain of itself can the world’s prime superpower just like the US be to worry younger individuals’s favorite app like that.”

France

France has banned the “leisure” use of TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and different apps on authorities staff’ telephones due to issues about inadequate knowledge safety measures.

The ban is to come back into power instantly, the Ministry of Public Sector Transformation and the Civil Service wrote on Twitter on Friday.

He added that for a number of weeks, lots of France’s European and worldwide companions have adopted measures to limit or ban the downloading and set up of or the usage of the Chinese language-owned video-sharing app TikTok by their administrations.

Mr Guerini mentioned leisure purposes do not need adequate ranges of cybersecurity and knowledge safety with the intention to be deployed on administrations’ tools, including that exemptions might be given for skilled causes, resembling institutional communication of an administration.

Canada

The North American nation additionally banned TikTok from being put in on any government-issued units.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defined the rationale: “I think that as authorities takes the numerous step of telling all federal staff that they’ll now not use TikTok on their work telephones, many Canadians from enterprise to personal people will replicate on the safety of their very own knowledge and maybe make selections,

“I’m at all times a fan of giving Canadians the knowledge for them to make the fitting choices for them.”

The European Union

The wave of bans throughout the EU started with the European Fee and the EU Council quickly banning TikTok from worker telephones as a cybersecurity measure.

Later, on Tuesday, February 28, the European Parliament revealed that it might observe go well with.

Except for downloading the video-sharing app on their work telephones, staff have additionally been barred from occurring the platform on their non-public units — if their parliament electronic mail and different community accesses are put in on them.

India

India banned TikTok in June 2020 alongside another Chinese language apps. It believes the app threatens its nationwide safety and defence — and that it additionally encourages pornography.

India was TikTok’s largest worldwide market earlier than the ban, with greater than 200 million customers.

Taiwan

In 2022, the Taiwanese authorities banned TikTok from all public-sector units. This adopted issues that the Chinese language authorities was conducting “cognitive warfare” towards the nation.

Pakistan

Pakistan has banned the video-sharing app a number of instances, with the newest ban concluding in November 2021.

Afghanistan

In April 2022, a Taliban spokesperson mentioned the federal government was planning to ban the app. This was due to the unfavorable influence it had on the youthful era and its inconsistencies with their Islamic legal guidelines.

It has lately been banned, with the Taliban stating that the app’s “filthy content material was not in keeping with Islamic legal guidelines”, in line with The Solar.

Iran

In Iran, TikTok is completely banned as TikTok’s guidelines and Iran’s legal guidelines should not suitable.