Parliament has shut down its TikTok account after a group, led by Wealden MP Nus Ghani, expressing their concerns about data security risks.
A group of four MPs and two peers last week wrote to the speakers of both the House of Lords and Commons. The letter claimed that “TikTok data is routinely transferred to China” and that the social media firm “may have misled parliament” about this during an appearance before a Select Committee last year.
TikTok is owned by Beijing-based technology company ByteDance. The company says it is not controlled by the Chinese Government and denies data is accessible to them.
A copy of the letter is shown below:
The speakers confirmed, that after consulting with officials, the TikTok account had been closed. In their reply the speakers said they “were not consulted on the plans for this pilot project” to engage with younger audiences.
Nus Ghani MP was sanctioned by China last year after speaking out against “gross human rights violations” against the Uighur people, a ethnic minority group in Northwest China persecuted for their religion and culture.
Nusrat Ghani MP, spoke to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning about the matter. Click to listen to the interview about the closure of Parliament’s TikTok account on BBC Sounds (from 1:51:42).
The original article can be accessed here.
