The British Parliament shut down its TikTok account on Wednesday (3) after some lawmakers expressed concerns about the security of data on this social network owned by a China-based company.
“We closed the TikTok pilot account of Parliament earlier than planned,” said a spokesperson for the agency, “due to comments from members.”
In order to reach a young audience, the content of the account published in test mode has been removed.
Lawmakers sanctioned by Beijing for calling the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang “genocide” protested the opening of such an account in a letter sent to both Speakers of Parliament and uncovered by Politico.
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is based in China, where the social network does not exist.
“The prospect of the Xi Jinping regime accessing our children’s personal phone data is of serious concern,” they wrote.
Last month, Theo Bertham, one of those in charge of the social network in Europe, assured lawmakers that it was “never” asked from TikTok to provide user data to the Chinese government and that the platform would reject such a request.
A spokesperson for the company expressed disappointment with the British Parliament’s decision, stating that it “missed an opportunity to connect with the millions of users who use TikTok in the UK.”
source: Noticias
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