Countries such as Indonesia and Bangladesh have banned it on the basis of pornography-related concerns, while others like Armenia and Azerbaijan have implemented restrictions to mitigate the spread of information which could lead to conflict.
TikTok is fighting to stay alive in the United States as pressure builds in Washington to ban the app if its Chinese owners don't sell the company. But the wildly popular platform, developed with homegrown Chinese technology, isn't accessible in China. In fact, it's never existed there.
The Italian antitrust authority on Tuesday accused TikTok of breaching its own guidelines by failing to remove content related to suicide, self-harm and poor nutrition. A recent face-marking challenge, dubbed "French scar," has taken the app by storm. The challenge involves pinching one's face until it bruises.
These bans have generally been justified with national security concerns, due to TikTok's ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance. As of June 2023, the app has been banned for use by federal employees and banned for use by state employees in 34 (out of 50) states.
Social media app TikTok has been banned on government electronic devices, the Cabinet Office has announced today. The ban comes after Cabinet Office Ministers ordered a security review.
India imposed a nationwide ban on TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps, including the messaging app WeChat, in 2020 over privacy and security concerns.
No, TikTok is not banned in China, it just isn't available under the same name. Although it is true that TikTok is not available for download in mainland China, it is not banned. The Chinese version of TikTok is actually the original version of the app, called Douyin.
ALBANY — More states are moving to ban TikTok on government equipment, but New York was one of the first to do so — quietly adopting an internal policy in June 2020 that prohibited its use on mobile devices as officials sought to strengthen security measures and guard against cyber threats and other data intrusions.
TikTok is being banned in 2023 due to allegations against its China-based parent company, ByteDance, which tracks user data (like location) inside of the app. This has led to the ban of TikTok on government-issued devices within many different US states.
TikTok is being banned from electronic devices issued by the SA government amid a national crackdown on the social media platform — but MPs and public sector staff will be allowed to maintain accounts on personal phones.
Norway. In March 2023, following advice from the National Security Authority, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre banned TikTok from the work phones and tablets used by ministers, state secretaries, and political advisors.
It was also available in Hong Kong until TikTok pulled out of the market in 2020 following the imposition of a sweeping national security law. Anyone who tries to open TikTok from within Hong Kong will see a message that reads "We regret to inform you that we have discontinued operating TikTok in Hong Kong".
Fact: TikTok, which is not available in mainland China, has established Los Angeles and Singapore as headquarters locations to meet its business needs. That is in keeping with ByteDance's approach to aligning business needs to the markets where its services operate. ByteDance does not have a single global headquarters.
WHY DOES WASHINGTON SAY TIKTOK IS A THREAT? TikTok, which has over 150 million American users, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd., which appoints its executives. ByteDance is based in Beijing but registered in the Cayman Islands, as is common for privately owned Chinese companies.
TikTok can be used on Singapore government-issued devices only on a 'need-to' basis. This is an existing policy that mandates only approved apps can be downloaded on government-issued devices, said the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group.
Zhang Yiming is the main founder of Chinese tech giant ByteDance, best known for its insanely popular app TikTok, which has more than 1 billion users worldwide.
Quick tip: After deleting your TikTok account, it will be in a "deactivated" state for 30 days before it's permanently deleted.
Is TikTok going to be banned? It's a question lots of people are asking. And the answer, for now, seems to be no. It's unlikely that the massively popular app's going to disappear anytime soon.
It's as safe as just about any other social media platform. It doesn't infect your phone with malware, but it comes with some safety risks like scams and saved user data.
Lawmakers have alleged that the Chinese government, under a 2017 National Intelligence law, can force ByteDance to share TikTok user data. TikTok argues that because it is incorporated in California and Delaware, it is subject to U.S. laws and regulations.
Why Is Tiktok Being Banned? Many countries are concerned that users' private data could be shared with the Chinese government based on China's 2017 National Intelligence Law. Forbes previously reported that ByteDance was planning to use TikTok to access users' location data without their consent.
Montana is the first state to pass a total ban. Montana on Wednesday became the first state in the US to sign a bill banning the social media app TikTok. A growing number of countries are partially or totally banning the app over security concerns.
Russia continues to block major platforms including Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter. If you don't have a VPN subscription already, you'll find yourself being cut off from the global internet, so you're only able to access a “splinternet” version that's native to Russia and is heavily censored.
While TikTok has become the most popular app in the rest of the world, a domestic version called Douyin is available to Chinese consumers. The apps are nearly identical — but with one critical difference: users under 14 are required to use Douyin in healthy moderation on “teenage mode.”
In recent months, lawmakers in the United States, Europe and Canada have escalated efforts to restrict access to TikTok, the massively popular short-form video app that is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, citing security threats.