SWEDEN joined a growing list of countries that have recently banned the use of TikTok on government-owned devices.
The Swedish Armed Forces ordered its personnel to remove the Chinese-made technology in their work devices due to security risks.
Sweden made the decision based on reports concerning how the app handles user information and the actions shown by its parent company ByteDance.
The FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that ByteDance could share TikTok user data such as browsing history, location, and biometric identifiers to the Chinese government.
Moreover, the European Commission as well as the Netherlands, Britain, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and France have banned their officials from using TikTok over fears of its ties to the Chinese government.
Meanwhile, TikTok insisted that the Chinese government has no control or access to its data but acknowledged late last year that some employees in China could access European user data and use them to spy on journalists.
The video-sharing app gained immense popularity since it was launched in 2016.
Earlier this week, China’s foreign ministry accused the United States of spreading disinformation about TikTok’s potential security risks and received threats of the app being banned on American soil unless its Chinese owners divest their stake.
