France has taken another step forward in introducing restrictions on many of the apps installed on phones used by government officials.
According to Engadget, not just TikTok, “entertainment” apps like Twitter, Netflix, and even Candy Crush are banned on phones used by civil servants. French Minister of Digital Transformation and Public Affairs Stanislas Guerini said that these apps represent cybersecurity risks that could jeopardize the data of both employees and authorities
The French government has not provided an exact list of banned apps, but Guerini said there could be some exceptions for the sake of essential communication. In other words, this won’t stop the social media team from posting content. Minister Guerini’s office said the ban was effective immediately but penalties for rule violations could be decided at the “management level”. The approach does not affect individual devices.
The ban that the French government has just issued comes after the governments of the US, Canada, the European Commission and the UK banned TikTok on the devices of public employees. In these cases, the underlying rationale is the same as officials worry that the Chinese government might collect data on important individuals by forcing TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to provide sensitive information. have a cold.
For its part, TikTok has repeatedly denied working with the Chinese government. In testimony before the US House of Representatives on March 23, CEO Shou Chew said ByteDance “is not an agent of China or any other country” and employees in other countries will not be able to access personal data. use US
However, the French policy does not target any particular country or category of application. Instead, it represents a general concern that entertainment apps could put government data at unnecessary risk.