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REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — China’s short video platform, TikTok, began being banned in a number of countries after the United States (US) launched it. This step is followed by French which banishes TikTok from the government apparatus.

Le Monde reports that the French government is banning recreational apps such as TikTok, Twitter, Netflix and Candy Crush on civil servants’ devices. According to the Minister of Public Services Stanislas Guerini, the applications represent a cybersecurity risk that could harm data, both for employees and for the administration.

The government has not provided an exact list of banned apps. However, Guerini said there must be exceptions to necessary communications. In other words, it won’t stop the social media team from posting content.

The ban takes effect immediately, but the penalties for violating the rules can be decided at management level. The approach does not affect personal devices.

The crackdown comes after the federal governments of the United States, Canada, the European Commission and the United Kingdom banned TikTok on their workers’ devices. In these cases, the reasons were similar, namely that officials were concerned that the Chinese government could collect individual data, spread propaganda and force TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to hand over sensitive information.

Reported Engadget, TikTok has repeatedly denied cooperating with the Chinese government. During testimony before a House committee yesterday, CEO Shou Chew said ByteDance was not an agent of China. According to his claims, US user data will not be accessible to staff in other countries.

However, French policies do not target a particular country or category of applications. Instead, it’s a common concern that entertainment apps could put government data at unnecessary risk.