According to two NATO officials familiar with the matter, the social media app TikTok has been officially banned on NATO-provided devices due to security concerns. The ban was announced in a note to staff on Friday morning and made official, although the app was not really usable on NATO-issued devices before due to internal tech restrictions.
The Chinese parent company of TikTok, Bytedance, has raised concerns among governmental bodies, including the US, UK, Norway, European Parliament, and now NATO, that it could potentially provide the Chinese government access to TikTok users' data. Despite TikTok's CEO, Shou Chew, stating that the company is independent from Beijing and moving data storage to the US, western governments remain skeptical. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has suggested that TikTok should be "ended one way or another" due to the challenges it poses.