Brits advised to delete TikTok app to protect data amidst China’s ‘tech totalitarian state’ movement

A senior MP has advised people to delete TikTok from their phones in order to protect their personal data from malicious threats.

Tory Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested the video-sharing platform is linked to China’s efforts to build a “tech totalitarian state”.

Concerns have been raised about TikTok’s ties to China because its parent company is Chinese, and critics fear that data may be passed to the state.

Last year, TikTok executive Liz Kanter insisted that the Chinese government had not requested UK user data from the platform and that it would not provide it if it was.

But speaking after the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, Ms Kearns said: “We are being naive.”

“We’ve now seen that people working in China for TikTok hacked into European data so it could track down the source of a journalist.

“TikTok gives away the data that makes you most vulnerable.

“There’s a reason why China has this app. There’s a reason why they’re buying up gay dating apps.”

She warned: “Everyone should be concerned.”

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