The Chinese social media platform, TikTok, has slammed the European Commission’s decision to ban its staff from using TikTok on their phones as “un-European”. The company’s VP of European Public Policy also said that TikTok was never informed by the EU of the decision and that it only found out as a result of news reports.
Commenting on the matter, VP of European Public Policy at TikTok, Theo Bertram said:
“We’ve never talked to them. They’ve never asked us for any input, so it’s a surprise. Normally we would expect some engagement and then some ability to understand what the case is against us, what the evidence is, to address that. And, in this instance, we haven’t had any of that. They never gave us any impression that this was something that was being considered. Not to be told what the process is, it feels un-European.”
It was reported earlier today that the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, has ordered its 32,000 employees to get TikTok off their company devices or personal devices if they have EC apps installed by March 15. The commission said that this move had been made to protect data and increase cybersecurity, without elaborating more.
It’ll be interesting to watch going forward whether the EC responds to TikTok’s claim that this move is “un-European” and whether it’ll eventually decide to backtrack on this decision.
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