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Taiwan has announced it would ban TikTok from government communication devices, United Daily News (UDN) and Liberty Times reported.

The popular short-form video application has been listed as a product that endangers national information and communication security. The ban applies to Douyin, which is the Chinese version of TikTok, as well.

Both apps remain easily accessible on ordinary devices in Taiwan, however.

Besides TikTok, Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), a popular lifestyle social media platform in China, is also banned from government devices.

The move was praised by Brendan Carr, one of five commissioners at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, who raised concerns about China's cyber capabilities when he visited Taiwan earlier this year. 

NEW: Taiwan has imposed a public sector ban on TikTok and other CCP-linked software and services based on a national security determination.

I commend this smart and strong leadership by my Republic of China counterparts, including @TAIWANmoda https://t.co/bGEDm7Ig2S https://t.co/ESpAE3Ye6i pic.twitter.com/v7tVveUQtm

— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) December 6, 2022

Could be collecting user data

This is not the first time TikTok has faced public scrutiny over information and communication security.

According to Forbes, which cited internal materials, the China-based ByteDance that owns TikTok planned to use the app to monitor the location of certain U.S. users not for ads targeting, but to surveil these individuals.

In early December 2022, FBI Director Chris Wray raised national security concerns over TikTok. Wray flagged the app's ability to control the recommendation algorithm, which according to him, "allows them to manipulate content, and if they want to, to use it for influence operations". He also claimed that China could use the app to collect user data, which could be used for espionage operations.

These claims were denied by TikTok.

TikTok Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas previously reiterated that "under no circumstances [would TikTok] give [users'] data to China".

However, she admitted that Chinese employees have access to U.S. user data. She avoided answering whether ByteDance would keep U.S. user data.

Sued for failing to safeguard minors

On Thursday (Dec. 9), the BBC reported that U.S. state of Indiana filed a lawsuit against TikTok for violating the state's consumer protection laws.

Court documents alleged that TikTok does not have the same safeguards that the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, applies for its minors. TikTok was also accused of pushing "salacious and inappropriate content" to U.S. users aged 13 and above for "unlimited periods of time" for the sake of profits.

According to Time, TikTok is not available for download in China.

TikTok has already been banned on government-issued devices in several U.S. states, including South Dakota, Maryland, Wisconsin and Texas, The Guardian reported.

In one of the letters sent to state agencies to relay his order, Texas governor Greg Abbott said the "vast amounts of data" harvested from users' devices offers a "trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government".

Top images via Getty Images.