He Dutch government announced on Tuesday that work phones obtained by government officials will be customized to allow only pre-approved apps to be installed, avoiding “spy-sensitive” social networking sites like TikTok.
Secretary of State Alexandra va Haffelen announced in a letter to the Dutch parliament that the use of these platforms on work phones for all officials is immediately discouraged due to the risk of “espionage” and that employees will be prohibited from downloading applications deemed risky in the short term.
The number of civil servants is 140,000 people. Netherlandsalthough it is not clear how many actually have a work phone separate from their personal mobile phone.
In this way, chief executive Mark Rutte is following the advice of the Dutch General Intelligence Service (AIVD), which warned him of the increased risk of spying on state-owned phones, in which applications are “operated by countries with an offensive cyber program aimed at the interests of the Netherlands.” , which includes China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
This assumes that US-origin apps like Instagram and Facebook are not included in the list of risky apps.
With this decision, the Netherlands follows other countries and institutions that have already announced restrictions on tik taksuch as the UK, Belgium, the US or the European Commission itself. The Dutch parliament has spoken out in favor of a ban in this regard.
US investigates TikTok surveillance of journalists
The U.S. Department of Justice will be investigating Chinese company ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, for spying on two U.S. journalists covering the tech industry, according to several media outlets in the North American country published in the late hours of this Friday. .
Forbes journalist Emily Baker-White, one of two communicators whose data was received irregularly by several ByteDance employees who were fired after the company itself acknowledged this event, was the first to spread this information in December last year.
The FBI also conducted interviews about what happened, though it did not specify whether the two investigations were connected, according to the publication, citing sources familiar with the investigation.
The New York Times this Friday confirmed a Justice Department investigation that it said began late last year.
In December, the Chinese company said in a statement that it “strongly” condemns the employees’ actions and that they no longer work for the company. In addition, he promised to cooperate with any investigation that could trigger this event. (EFE)
Source: RPP
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