There are currently “no plans” for the UK to follow in the US’s footsteps and ban TikTok, a cabinet minister has said.
Darren Jones said cats and dance videos do not “seem like a threat to national security” but suggested the position could change if an issue arises that “concerns the government.”
The application opened in China was “forced to go dark” in the US on Sunday after a Supreme Court ruling confirmed a law that closed the platform.
The ban was implemented due to concerns about its ties to Beijing, and the social media giant was given a deadline of January 19 to be sold to an approved American buyer.
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Asked if the UK could do the same, Jones said on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “We always take into account all these technological issues, whether it’s national security or data privacy issues.
“We have laws in place and processes to do it. We have no plans at this time to ban TikTok in the UK.
“Therefore, we will not follow the same path that the Americans have followed unless or until at some point in the future there is a threat that concerns us in the interests of Britain.”
Treasury Chief Secretary Jones noted that TikTok is not allowed on government phones “because there is smart information on those devices.”
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What does the TikTok ban in the US mean?
However, he said that “consumers who want to post videos of their cats or dancing, that doesn’t seem like a threat to national security to me.”
The Conservatives introduced a ban on TikTok on UK government devices in 2023 after a review found there “could” be a risk in the way the app uses data and information.
Also speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said she was “not considering” pushing for the UK to go further with a complete ban on the app.
However, he said Labor ministers should look at what other countries were doing.
She said: “It’s too binary to say ‘should we just ban this in the UK?’, we have to look at the concerns that are reflected abroad, so here in America, we learn some lessons and take some of those considerations into account. our own hands. judgment before we come up with political concepts.”
The US ban is the final result of legislation passed by President Joe Biden in April that required TikTok parent ByteDance to sell the popular short-video app or shut it down in the United States.
The company tried to have the measure declared unconstitutional on freedom of expression grounds, but lost the last legal appeal.
US President-elect Donald Trump told NBC Information that “most likely” will give TikTok 90 more days to reach an agreement after he takes office on Monday.
