France joined the countries banning its use social network TikTok on a government official’s cell phone. The decision can also be extended to Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram.

In an email sent to employees earlier in the week, it was suggested that they remove the app from their professional phones.

The application presents “a risk in terms of cybersecurity and data protection of civil servants and administration”, concluded the delegation of the Minister of Public Services, Stanislas Guerini, after an analysis carried out by the National Agency for Information System Security (ANSSI) and the Inter-Ministry Digital Directorate (Dinum).

Among the apps now banned are “gaming app triptychs such as Candy Crush, ‘streaming’ [norte-americano] like Netflix and entertainment like TikTok”, explains Stanislas Guerini’s entourage.

Also Twitter, whose content moderation policies have been mooted since being bought by Elon Musk, is on the ‘black list’.

However, the Government has not compiled a list of prohibited applications that are implemented in detail in all ministries.

In principle, all apps deemed recreational will be banned, but exemptions may be granted due to institutional communication needs, for example, according to the ministry.

The ban, which was notified to various ministries through “binding” instructions, according to the Government, is effective immediately and does not cover the personal devices of civil servants.

A unified system of sanctions has not been considered at this time in case of breach of the rules.

The decision comes a day after the British and Scottish parliaments announced they would ban the short-video social network TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, on the device for security reasons.

Already several countries took the same decisionamong others are WEO English, Canada or Belgium. The European Parliament is also barred from accessing the app.

TikTok was created by a Chinese company, and for that reason, some leaders fear that user data will end up in the hands of the Beijing Government.

Until now, Portugal has not taken a stand against TikTok.