Philippines launches TikTok ‘threat assessment’ as it considers partial ban

Name: Nepal bans TikTok for ‘disturbing social harmony’, sparking dismay from thousands of users
Uploaded: 2023-11-29T04:35:24.000Z
Duration: 3 min 2 s
Description: Nepal bans TikTok for ‘disturbing social harmony’, sparking dismay from thousands of users

The possible ban would cover the state security sector, not the general public, a National Security Council said, citing other countries’ TikTok bans

In Indonesia, meanwhile, state media reported TikTok had applied for an e-commerce permit following an earlier ban on social-media transactions

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TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., is banned in a number of countries. Photo: Reuters

BloombergandReuters

Published: 12:35pm, 29 Nov 2023Updated: 12:37pm, 29 Nov 2023

The government of the Philippines will soon decide whether to forbid security employees from using the TikTok video-sharing app amid concerns over cyberespionage, according to a National Security Council official.

“The proposal to ban TikTok is simply for the security sector because many, many countries in the world have already banned TikTok in government devices,” the council’s Assistant Director Jonathan Malaya told reporters on Tuesday.

National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano established a task force “to create a threat assessment” that “hopefully would be finished within the year,” Malaya said, so that a decision on a potential ban can be made “very soon”. He said the possible TikTok ban would not cover the general public.

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Nepal bans TikTok for ‘disturbing social harmony’, sparking dismay from thousands of users

Malaya earlier said the threat of data collection or cyberespionage was the reason behind the move to create a task force to consider banning the popular social-media platform on government security devices.

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., is banned in a number of countries. The US has prohibited downloading or using TikTok on federal government devices, and the European Commission and some EU countries banned government officials from using TikTok on their work phones. Canada and India have enacted similar bans.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has asked TikTok to help family-run stores promote their products to the social media platform’s millions of users after meeting with TikTok Chief Executive Officer Chew Zi Shou in San Francisco earlier this month.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, state news agency Antara reported that TikTok is in the process of obtaining an e-commerce permit from the government, citing the deputy trade minister.