TikTok was completely caught off guard when The executive branch of the European Union told staff to remove the app from phones. Thursday.
Theo Bertram, vice president of European public policy at TikTok, told Bloomberg that company executives found out about it through media reports. The European Commission department that issued the suspension never contacted the company about any concerns.
“We have never talked to them. They never asked us for any opinion, so it’s a surprise,” Bertram said. “Normally we would expect some communication and then some ability to understand what the case is against us, what the evidence is, to bring it up. And, in this case, none of that has happened.”
The ban is part of a growing movement to mandate TikTok on government devices, due to concerns over cybersecurity risks and the company’s ties to the Chinese government. The US Congress has also banned the app on government devices, with some officials calling for a broader ban on TikTok, which is parented by Chinese company ByteDance Ltd.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was in Brussels last month visiting a number of European commissioners, some of whom Express your concern about data protection. That followed a scandal in December in which TikTok employees accessed user data.
Bertram said TikTok can do business in Europe as long as the company follows EU rules, from data protection to content moderation.
“We were never given the impression that this was something that was being considered,” Bertram said. “It feels un-European that they don’t communicate what the process is.”
TikTok wrote to the responsible department of the Commission, but has so far only received a “waiting response”.
Johannes Hahn, who oversaw the EU Corporate Governance Council that made the decision, downplayed the severity of the move in a briefing with journalists on Thursday, saying there was no “immediate threat” to Commission officials. . Still, they are constantly monitoring the situation, he said.
The move shows how the EU is becoming more aggressive towards TikTok. Following a call with Chew in January, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said the EU will ban the platform if it doesn’t follow content and data moderation rules.
“We will not hesitate to adopt the full scope of sanctions to protect our citizens if audits do not show full compliance”Breton wrote.
Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager has been more cautious in referring to a full ban on the platform as the US has contemplated, telling Swedish media this month that such a move is “not on the table”.
The Dutch intelligence agency is also assessing potential risks associated with government officials using TikTok on their phones. and the French president Emmanuel Macron, expressed his concern about the platform and its impact on young users.
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