TikTok banned from new North Yorkshire Council's staff devices

The video-sharing app has already been banned on government devices in several countries

The TikTok social media app has been banned from staff devices at the newly-formed North Yorkshire Council over security concerns.

The new authority's employees have also been "strongly" discouraged from using it on personal devices which they use for work.

The Chinese-owned app has already been banned on government phones in the UK and in a number of other countries.

TikTok has said the bans were based on a "fundamental misconception".

Madeline Hoskin, assistant director of technology for North Yorkshire Council, said the app was not approved for "any work purpose".

"In addition to this, we would strongly discourage any use of the app or website on personal devices also being used for work purposes," she added.

Ms Hoskin said the decision, which came into force with the new council's creation on 1 April, was because the TikTok app and website collected "a lot of personal and very detailed information" which was stored outside the UK.

"Though currently this data is predominantly used for targeted advertising, the volume and depth of the data being captured and stored poses a potential risk we do not believe is acceptable," she said.

'Fundamental misconceptions'

Last month, the UK Parliament banned TikTok from its network over security concerns.

It followed a decision by the government to ban ministers from using the app on their work phones following a security review,

The Greater London Authority London also said in March that its staff would no longer be allowed to use TikTok on official devices due to security fears.

TikTok, which has exploded in popularity in recent years, gathers information such as the user's age, location, device and even their typing rhythms.

Its cookies also track user activity elsewhere on the internet.

US-based social media sites also do this, but TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has faced claims of being influenced by Beijing.

A company spokesperson said: "We believe recent bans are based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics, in which TikTok and our community around the world play no part."

The company was committed to working with governments and partners to address any security concerns and it should be judged on "facts, not fears", they added.

"We have already begun implementing a comprehensive plan to further protect our US and European user data, building on the principles of local data storage and introducing third-party independent oversight of our approach."