The Chinese-owned video-sharing software TikTok is considered a security danger by the Czech cyber watchdog, which joined other Western authorities in issuing the warning on Wednesday.
Due to worries that TikTok may offer Chinese authorities access to private user information, the app has been under increasing investigation in several nations.
If installed on “devices accessing important information and communication infrastructure,” according to a warning from the Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency, TikTok might be dangerous.
“The Agency is concerned about a potential security threat stemming from the use of TikTok primarily due to the amount of user data that is collected by the app as well as the way the data is handled,” it said.
ByteDance, the parent firm of TikTok, “stands under the legal jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China,” the NUKIB continued, adding that this worried it.
A bill to outlaw the software, which US government employees are currently not allowed to download on their devices, has been presented by US politicians.
TikTok usage is prohibited for employees of the European Union, as well as in Canada and Denmark.
Despite being a member of the EU, the Czech government has not yet implemented a ban.
China was singled out as a significant threat to Czech cyberspace by the country’s national intelligence agency BIS in a study released last year.
“Chinese technologies penetrating important networks of state infrastructures… can be evaluated as a major security threat,” it said.