TikTok Ban: Scottish Parliament ‘Strongly Advises’ Lawmakers to Remove App for Security Reasons

The members of the Scottish Parliament and staff were “strongly” advised to remove TikTok, including from personal devices used to access the Scottish Parliament’s IT systems, the report said citing an email.

“After discussions with the National Cyber Security Centre, we are strongly advising that all members, members’ staff, parliament staff and contractors’ staff remove the TikTok app from any device currently used to access the Scottish Parliament’s IT systems,” wrote Alan Balharrie, CIO and group head of digital services, as quoted by Sky News.

This report comes a day after the UK announced a similar ban on installing the video-sharing application on government devices. The ban follows UK Cabinet Office’s security review.

According to the Cabinet Office statement, the review looked at the potential vulnerability of government data from social media apps on devices and risks around how sensitive information could be accessed and used by some platforms.

“Given the potentially sensitive nature of information which is stored on government devices, government policy on the management of third party applications will be strengthened and a precautionary ban on TikTok on government devices is being introduced,” the statement added.

This decision to ban the controversial app on government devices is in line with similar restrictions brought in by key international partners, including the US and Canadian governments, and the European Commission.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden said, “The security of sensitive government information must come first, so today we are banning this app on government devices. The use of other data-extracting apps will be kept under review.”

“Restricting the use of TikTok on Government devices is a prudent and proportionate step following advice from our cyber security experts,” he added.