Is TikTok safe? Security risk, privacy and data fears, it it safe for kids - why it’s been banned in Montana

The Republican governor of Montana has signed a law outlawing TikTok entirely, making Montana the first state in the US to do so. The law is more comprehensive than any other state's attempts to restrict the social media app.

It is anticipated that the new law, which is set to go into effect on 1 January 2024, will be legally challenged. It will also act as a trial for the TikTok-free America that many national legislators have envisioned.

“Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,” governor Greg Gianforte said in a statement.

The news comes just a couple of weeks after the executive branch of the European Union announced that TikTok has been temporarily banned from employee phones as a cybersecurity precaution, reflecting growing concerns from western officials over the Chinese-owned video sharing app.

Marking a first for the European Commission, the use of TikTok on company-issued devices or employee-owned devices used for work has been suspended by its Corporate Management Board.

Employees must remove TikTok from personal devices they use for work, according to EU representatives, but they did not specify how this requirement would be enforced. Here is everything you need to know about it.

Why has TikTok been banned?

Due to concerns that the hugely popular app could be used to spread pro-Beijing views or collect user information to be sent back to China, TikTok is coming under closer scrutiny.

The social media giant came under more scrutiny in late 2022 after the platform confirmed, as part of an update to its privacy policy, that under certain conditions, some TikTok staff in China and other countries were permitted access to UK and EU user data "based on a demonstrated need to do their job."

The EU’s move came after a similar decision in the US, where the app has been banned from official government devices by Congress and more than half of the states.

“The reason why this decision has been taken is to... increase the commission’s cybersecurity,” commission spokesperson Sonya Gospodinova said at a press briefing in Brussels. “Also, the measure aims to protect the commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyber attacks against the corporate environment of the commission.”

Spokespeople for the European Commission have not yet commented on what specifically may have led to the suspension, or what would be required to have it lifted.

The EU has also recently put pressure on TikTok to abide by upcoming new digital regulations designed to get major online platforms to remove harmful and illegal content and adhere to the bloc's stringent data privacy laws.

Earlier this month, US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman said young people should “think twice” about being on TikTok because of China, telling the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg would “certainly” encourage youngsters in her family to question their interactions with the app.

“We have thousands of chips in any of our cars, we all live on our phones, and we have to understand all these devices can be used as surveillance vehicles if used in the wrong way,” she said. “There is no question that the People’s Republic of China is the pacing challenge, certainly for this decade and if not through the further future.”

What has TikTok said?

TikTok, which has 125 million users in the 27-nation EU, has said it wants to “set the record straight”, with the app’s Brussels-based public policy official Caroline Greer tweeting that the suspension “is misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions”.

She said: “The European Commission’s suspension of TikTok on corporate devices is misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions. We have requested a meeting to set the record straight.”

In an effort to allay growing worries about data privacy for its users in the West, TikTok recently announced plans for two additional data centres in Europe. Starting this year, data for TikTok users in Europe will be moved to the new data centres, according to Rich Waterworth, the company’s general manager for European operations.

Will it be banned by the UK government?

In March,TikTok was banned from UK Government phones after a security review, though ministers and officials are still able to use the app on their personal phones. Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden announced the move, which he said would be “good cyber hygiene” amid a risk to “sensitive Government data”, with immediate effect on 23 March.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had been under pressure from senior MPs to follow the US and the European Union in barring the video-sharing app from official devices.

Parliament’s TikTok account was shut down last year after MPs raised concerns on the firm’s links to China. The app has nonetheless become increasingly popular among politicians in recent years, with some MPs amassing tens of thousands of followers.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he did not have TikTok but warned it was important to be “careful” about any social media site. “We should all be careful, whatever social media we use. They all collect data about us. There’s a phrase about the internet which is ‘If it’s free, it’s probably because you’re the product’. That is how these companies work,” he told LBC.

Is TikTok safe?

Liz Kanter, the video-sharing platform’s director of government relations said in December 2022 that the company had not been asked for UK user data by the Chinese government and would not provide it even if asked.

In a letter to Kearns, Kanter said TikTok is “separate” from a ByteDance subsidiary incorporated in China and its employees “do not have access” to TikTok users’ personal data. “For the avoidance of doubt, we have not been asked for TikTok UK user data by the Chinese government or the CCP,” she said.

“As a company, we prioritise ensuring strong protections and governance when handling our users’ data and we strive to create public transparency around our data practices, including issues such as data storage and access.”