AMSTERDAM: Dutch civil servants will soon no longer be allowed to use Chinese-owned social media app TikTok on their work phones, the Dutch interior ministry said on Tuesday (Mar 21), following similar decisions by other European countries.
The ministry said it discouraged the use of all apps from “countries with an aggressive cyber programme targeted at the Netherlands or Dutch interests” on phones distributed by the government.
The Dutch intelligence agency AIVD last month listed China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as having such an offensive cyber programme, creating the risk of espionage.
Belgium this month also banned TikTok, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, from the phones and computers of federal government workers.
