UK's TikTok Account Taken Down as Tory Group Claims ByteDance Send User Data To China

The U.K. TikTok account, @ukparliament, was taken down as ordered by the United Kingdom's Speakers of the House of Commons and Lords.

This decision was made after Conservative Members of the Parliament successfully lobbied a campaign against the use of TikTok.

For the past few years, the popular Chinese app has been criticized because of its alleged connection with China's government.

Although ByteDance already denied this accusation multiple times, many nations still claim that there's a chance that it is providing user data to the Chinese government.

UK's TikTok Account Taken Down

According to The Guardian's latest report, the Speakers of the House of Commons, as well as the Lords who ordered the shut down of the TikTok account @ukparliament explained that they were not informed before it was created.

Before the TikTok account was removed, it only published one video, which provides tips on how to take selfie pictures with the iconic Big Ben in London.

Although this is the case, a group of Tory backbenchers explained that the U.K. government really needs to take down the account until it is assured that no user data is being sent to the Chinese officials.

The group added that since ByteDance is a Chinese company, there's a chance that it is required to follow the Asian country's security law. If this is true, then TikTok is probably supplying personal data to Beijing.

"In light of your feedback and concerns expressed to us, we have decided that the account should be closed with immediate effect," said the Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and the Lord Speaker Lord McFall.

Even US Government is Concerned

Aside from the U.K. government, the United States federal communications regulators are also worried about the use of TikTok.

Bloomberg recently reported that many U.S. military members are using the social media platform to share their daily activities.

Although they have TikTok accounts for personal use, officials said that their user data can be provided to the Chinese government, allowing them to know the troops' next movements.

If you want to see further details about the U.S. military members' TikTok usage, you can visit this link.

On the other hand, rumors claimed that the so-called TikTok Music will soon arrive.

Meanwhile, new reports stated that TikTok is now more watched by young users compared to YouTube.

For more news updates about TikTok and other social media platforms, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

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Written by: Griffin Davis