Von der Leyen: TikTok ban in the EU "not ruled out"
While the video app is fighting a possible ban in the USA, the leading candidate is also taking aim at TikTok.
(Bild: Primakov/Shutterstock.com)
Ursula von der Leyen considers a TikTok ban in Europe to be an option. The politician hinted at this during a discussion event in Maastricht, the Netherlands, where the leading candidates for the 2024 European elections met on Monday.
"We are well aware of the danger of TikTok"
Von der Leyen did not appear at the event as President of the European Commission, but as the lead candidate of the center-right European People's Party (EPP). "It's not out of the question", the weekly newspaper Politico quoted the politician as saying after the moderator referred to a TikTok ban in the USA. Von der Leyen added that the Commission was "the very first in the world to ban TikTok on our company phones". "We are well aware of the danger of TikTok," she said.
According to media reports, von der Leyen avoids TiTok, and the EPP party is also no longer active there, although it has an account. Other parties such as the European Greens are represented on TikTok to appeal to a younger target group between the ages of 18 and 34. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also been running a TikTok channel since the beginning of April. A move that has certainly met with criticism.
Other top candidates, such as the Liberal Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann remained more noncommittal in their statements. You have to see "what happens there" when you talk about TikTok, writes Politico.
Security concerns
The social network TikTok is currently facing a ban in the USA if its owner ByteDance does not sell it. There are fears that the Chinese company will bend to the will of the Communist Party and grant Chinese authorities access to user data from the US. There are also allegations that the platform is being used to exert political influence, although TikTok has denied such accusations in the past. Initial attempts to ban TikTok in the US have already failed under President Donald Trump. In April 2024, the US Senate introduced a bill to force ByteDance to sell.
There are also security concerns about TikTok in this country. The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection (BfDI) recommends that federal ministries and authorities in this country avoid the app and not install it on official devices.
Last week, ByteDance switched off a controversial reward function in the TikTok Lite app. This was done under pressure from the EU, which had threatened coercive measures as the supervisory authority under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
(hze)
