Why TikTok is Being Banned on Gov't Phones in US and Beyond

The United States is ratcheting up national security concerns about TikTok, mandating that all federal employees delete the Chinese-owned social media app from government-issued mobile phones. Other Western governments are pursuing similar bans, citing espionage fears.

So how serious is the threat? And should TikTok users who don’t work for the government be worried about the app, too?

The answers depend somewhat on whom you ask, and how concerned you are in general about technology companies gathering and sharing personal data.

Here’s what to know:

HOW ARE THE U.S. AND OTHER GOVERNMENTS BLOCKING TIKTOK?

The White House said this week it is giving U.S. federal agencies 30 days to delete TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices.

Congress, the White House, U.S. armed forced and more than half of U.S. states had already banned TikTok amid concerns that its parent company, ByteDance, would give user data — such as browsing history and location — to the Chinese government, or push propaganda and misinformation on its behalf.

The European Union’s executive branch has temporarily banned TikTok from employee phones, and Denmark and Canada have announced efforts to block TikTok on government-issued phones.

China says the bans reveal the United States’ insecurities and are an abuse of state power. But they come at a time when Western technology companies, including Airbnb, Yahoo and LinkedIn, have been leaving China or downsizing operations there because of Beijing’s strict privacy law that specifies how companies can collect and store data.

WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS ABOUT TIKTOK?

Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that ByteDance could share TikTok user data with China’s authoritarian government.