Canada, U.S. and different have moved to limit or bar TikTok
Canada shouldn’t be alone. Here are another nations which have moved to limit or ban TikTok at dwelling.
TikTok has been banned in India for greater than two years.
The transfer got here after 20 Indian troopers had been killed in a border conflict with Chinese troops within the Himalayas on in June, 2020. Tensions spiked between the 2 nations, and India imposed bans on greater than 50 Chinese apps, together with TikTok and messaging app WeChat.
At the time, Forbes estimated that TikTok could undergo a lack of as much as $6 billion because of the ban from its largest market outdoors of China.
Congress in December handed a spending invoice that included a TikTok ban on authorities gadgets. More than two dozen states have additionally applied related restrictions.
The app has had a tumultuous relationship with American governments. In 2020, President Donald Trump threatened to dam new downloads of TikTok inside the United States, calling it a menace to nationwide safety. The ban by no means got here into impact.
TikTok has gone to nice lengths tried to guarantee Congress the platform shouldn’t be a menace. Its chief govt, Shou Zi Chew, met with lawmakers in Washington this month to assuage issues, nevertheless it was unclear whether or not his efforts would affect strikes to ban the app on official gadgets.
Taiwan has banned TikTok on authorities gadgets and is mulling a nationwide ban amid rising tensions with Beijing.
The authorities has seemed to India as a case research of the efficacy of outright banning TikTok, however has drawn no concrete conclusions, since many are capable of get across the full ban, in line with the Taipei Times, by altering their regional settings or by use of digital non-public community, or VPNs, which assist customers bypass restrictions and conceal what they do on-line.
Following Canada’s announcement, the European Parliament mentioned Tuesday it could ban the app from office-issued telephones in addition to non-public gadgets which can be linked to work electronic mail.
It grew to become the newest E.U. establishment to take action: Last week the European Commission and E.U. Council additionally introduced related restrictions.
“This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the Commission,” it mentioned in an announcement.
Branches of the Australian authorities have enacted related bans on staffers’ gadgets.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and the Departments of Dense and Home Affairs have all mentioned workers can not obtain the app on their work telephones, in line with the Sydney Morning Herald.
Privacy and geopolitical rigidity with China will not be the one causes TikTok has run afoul of governments. Indonesia briefly banned the app in 2018, citing issues together with “pornography, inappropriate content and blasphemy.” The ban was lifted lower than per week later after the app agreed to censor a few of its content material.
Pakistan’s authorities has briefly banned the app at the least twice over inappropriate content material. It’s commonplace for the nation’s authorities to censor the Internet at dwelling. Earlier this month it blocked Wikipedia over “blasphemous” content material. Hours later the positioning was restored.
The Taliban introduced a ban on TikTok final 12 months to “prevent the younger generation from being misled,” in line with the BBC. The ban got here into impact, however Wired reviews that customers have discovered their approach across the restrictions by means of VPNs.
Emily Rauhala in Brussels, Niha Masih in New Delhi and Adela Suliman in London contributed to this report, which has been up to date.