North Yorkshire Council has banned the use of TikTok on council devices due to digital security concerns.
The new council’s decision follows last month’s announcement by the Cabinet Office that the use of the social media app on Government devices is banned in order to protect ‘sensitive government information’.
The ban, which comes amid concerns that the Chinese-owned company may be required to help China’s Communist Party due to Beijing’s intelligence legislation, does not extend to local authorities.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson told The MJ it was ‘completely up to local authorities’ to decide their approach towards the digital channel. The Local Government Association (LGA) also said the decision on whether to remove the app was ‘a matter for individual councils to decide’.
North Yorkshire Council has decided to follow the Government’s lead in banning TikTok on work devices, according to a story first broken by local democracy reporter Thomas Barrett.
A spokesperson for the council also said they would ‘strongly discourage’ the use of the application on personal devices that are used for work.
Assistant director technology for North Yorkshire Council, Madeline Hoskin, said: ‘We have made this decision because both the TikTok app and the website collect a lot of personal and very detailed information that is stored outside of the UK, and though currently this data is predominantly used for targeted advertising, the volume and depth of the data being captured and stored poses a potential risk we do not believe is acceptable.’
A TikTok spokesperson told The MJ that the bans are ‘based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics.’
