On Thursday Britain’s parliament joined the United Kingdom government in banning TikTok, depriving lawmakers of access to the Chinese-owned video app TikTok through its internet network.
The announcement came as TikTok’s chief executive Shou Zi Chew emerged before an opposing US Congress over its likely connections to the communist government in China.
The TikTok app will be banned from all parliamentary devices and all over the parliamentary network, the House of Commons and House of Lords said, adding: “Cyber security is a top priority for parliament.”
Individual lawmakers who are reliable users of TikTok, such as energy security secretary Grant Shapps, will still be able to use the TikTok app on their phones, but not when connected via the parliament’s WiFi network.
The UK announced last week a security ban on TikTok on official devices, in sequence with steps by the European Union and the United States. Shapps, who has more than 14,000 followers on TikTok, said he would follow the ban on his state phone but still use the app on his devices.
TikTok’s owner ByteDance and the Chinese government have dismissed the security worries over the Chinese-owned app and condemned the Western prohibitions as politically motivated.
