Oliver Dowden, a Cabinet Office minister, declared in Parliament on Thursday that TikTok would be prohibited from UK government phones due to security concerns around the Chinese-owned social media video app.

The ban aligns the UK with the US, Canada, the European Union (EU), as well as India, which completely barred TikTok from entering the nation, despite the fact that the business vehemently denies sharing user data with the Chinese government.

Also read: Bulls Vs Bears: Market ends its five-day losing streak to close higher

Oliver Dowden said, “There may be a risk in the way the app uses information and data from the government”.

“Thus, today we have banned this software from being used on government devices since the protection of private information must come first”, he added.

“The security of sensitive government information must come first, so we are banning this app on government devices today”, Dowden explained.

“We’ll continue to monitor the use of other data-extracting apps. Following recommendations from our cyber security specialists, limiting the usage of TikTok on government devices is a responsible and reasonable move”, he added.

(With input from PTI)

Also read: ISRO To Launch ‘Space Tourism’ By 2030 At A Cost Of Rs. 6 Crore Per Passenger