Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhkna said that Europe should consider banning the Chinese app TikTok because of its security threats and potential impact on democratic processes. Writes UNN with reference to ERR.
Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna said that Europe should consider banning the Chinese app Tiktok, following the example of the United States.
Tsakhna noted that in recent years, Europe has seen how TikTok has been used to spread disinformation, fake news, and manipulate election results.
The most striking example of this occurred recently in Romania, where the results of the first round of the presidential election were annulled after it was found that Russia had interfered in the election by conducting a massive online campaign
He emphasized that applications such as TikTok do not provide a balanced presentation of information, but create conditions for the rapid spread of biased data.
“TikTok is not a media outlet, but a weapon of influence,” he said.
The minister noted that Tiktok collects a lot of user data, but it is not clear who has access to this data.
Since Tiktok is owned by a Chinese company, there are legitimate concerns that the data could end up in the hands of Chinese authorities. Last year's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Yearbook also states that Tiktok collects a large amount of information that could be useful for intelligence gathering, extortion, and cyberattacks. In light of the above, a ban on TikTok should be considered in Europe as well, given the security risks. At the same time, democratic countries should continue to discuss how to successfully counter the onslaught of hostile AI-based communication robots with a clear goal of interfering with democratic processes
Recall
In the United States, users no longer have access to the popular social network TikTok.