Danish parl urges to remove TikTok over cybersecurity

COPENHAGEN: The Danish parliament on Tuesday urged lawmakers and employees with the 179-member assembly against having TikTok on work phones as a cybersecurity measure, saying “there is a risk of espionage.”

The popular video-sharing app, which is Chinese-owned, faces intensifying scrutiny from Europe and the US over security and data privacy amid worries that TikTok could be used to promote pro-Beijing views or sweep up users' information.

Danish parliamentary Speaker Soren Gade said that an email had been sent out Tuesday to lawmakers and employees with ”a strong recommendation that you delete the TikTok app if you have previously installed it.”

The assembly acted after an assessment from Denmark's Center for Cyber Security, which had said there was a risk of espionage. The agency is part of Denmark's foreign intelligence service.

“We adapt accordingly,” Gade said in a statement.

It wasn't immediately known how many Danish lawmakers have TikTok installed. In recent days, several politicians have publicly announced that they had deleted the app from their work phone for cybersecurity reasons.

Earlier this month, the European Union's executive branch said it has temporarily banned TikTok from phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure.

The EU's action follows similar moves in the US, where more than half of the country's 50 states and Congress have banned TikTok from official government devices.

In Norway, which isn't a member of the 27-nation EU, the justice minister was forced to apologise this month for failing to disclose that she had installed TikTok on her government-issued phone.