The Czech Cyber and Information Security Authority (Nukib) has classified the video app Tiktok as a “threat”. “Due to the amount of user data collected by the application and the way in which this data is processed,” the app could pose a threat to national security, Nukib said on Wednesday. “ByteDance, the developer and administrator of TikTok, is subject to the jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China,” the agency pointed out.
With one billion users worldwide, Tiktok is particularly popular with the younger generation. You can create short videos, an algorithm will suggest videos to watch. However, there are massive data protection concerns and, above all, fears that the Chinese state may have access to the Chinese parent company Bytedance.
In a report last year, the Czech secret service identified China as a threat to Czech cyber security. However, unlike Canada, Denmark or the EU Commission, the Czech Republic has not yet taken any concrete steps against Tiktok.
The EU Commission and the Canadian government have banned the use of Tiktok on their employees’ mobile phones. The Danish parliament also announced that it had asked MPs and employees to delete the app from their devices. In the US, where Tiktok is particularly popular, a total ban on the service is in the works.
Meanwhile, Tiktok announced that it would store data from European users on servers in Europe in the future for more data protection. Three server centers are to be operated from this year in Ireland and Norway, as explained by Tiktok employee Theo Bertram, who is responsible for Europe. For the 1.2 billion euro project, the company wants to work with a European security company. This also reduces employee access to user data.
