UK Parliament shuts TikTok account over China concerns

The account only lasted a week.

The UK Parliament has closed its TikTok account, after a group of MPs and peers voiced concerns about the platform's links to the Chinese Communist Party and its treatment of user data.

TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has repeatedly faced scrutiny in different countries over alleged links to the Chinese government.

"Based on Member [of Parliament] feedback, we are closing the pilot UK Parliament TikTok account earlier than we had planned," a spokesperson said, adding that it was a pilot initiative to test TikTok as tool to engage younger audiences with relevant content about parliament.

The move comes after senior parliamentarians warned the speakers of the House of Commons and the House of Lords in a letter late last month about the serious data security risks posed by ByteDance.

They raised worries about a regulation China approved in 2017 pertaining to national intelligence, which requires companies to provide data to the Government if requested.

The concerned parliamentarians are part of a group of politicians, lawyers and academics who have been sanctioned by China for speaking out against alleged human rights violations in the country.

The signatories included Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Foreign Affairs select committee, and Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative party leader.

"We cannot and should not legitimise the use of an app which has been described by tech experts as 'essentially Chinese government spyware'," the letter said.

"The prospect of Xi Jinping's government having access to personal data on our children's phones ought to be a cause for major concern," they continued.

Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, and Lord McFall, the Lord Speaker, said the Parliament's TikTok account was an effort to interact with younger audiences, who are often not as active on other social media platforms, regarding the work of Parliament.

However, after receiving feedback on the issue, they have decided that the account should be closed with immediate effect.

One of the Tory MPs, Nus Ghani, thanked the House of Lords and Commons speakers for intervening on the issue and "standing up for our values."

Duncan Smith also welcomed the decision.

"We need to start talking to people about not using TikTok," he said.

He went further, urging Prime Minister and top Ministers to close their TikTok accounts.

TikTok said it was disappointed with the decision. The platform offered to talk to concerned MPs to ease their worries about how it handles user data.

"While it is disappointing that Parliament will no longer be able to connect with the millions of people who use TikTok in the UK, we reiterate the offer to reassure those Members of Parliament who raised concerns and clarify any inaccuracies about our platform," a spokesperson said.

In June, US FCC commissioner Brendan Carr urged Apple and Google to stop offering TikTok in their app stores.

He said the Chinese app poses a serious national security risk and may send sensitive personal data to Beijing.