Due to security concerns over the most downloaded app in the world, Taiwan has joined other U.S. states in prohibiting TikTok from communication devices used in the public sector.
The video hosting service and its Chinese equivalent Douyin, both owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, were reportedly prohibited from being installed and used on public devices earlier this week, according to Taiwanese media.
According to a government official from Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA), who declined to be identified, the apps are “damaging against national information security.”
Xiaohongshu, another Chinese-owned social networking site, was also outlawed.
It is unknown if the ban will also apply to personal electronics like cellphones.
Before this, the Taiwanese authorities has banned China’s iQiyi and Tencent from running streaming sites on the island. Digital content generated in China and transmitted to Taiwan via the internet by other companies, some situated in a third nation, was likewise outlawed as of Sept. 3.
Taiwan is seen as a renegade province by China, and Beijing has been charged with waging an aggressive psychological conflict with the island.
In a prior interview, Lin Ying-ta, an information engineering professor at Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University, said that the Chinese Communist Party “ultimately controls” iQiyi, Tencent’s WeTV, and other Chinese platforms.
“These platforms could capture users’ personal information on the server side, and may break past information security mechanisms on the mobile or user side,” Lin