Rishi Sunak hints at TikTok ban from UK government devices

The Sunday Times reported that a review of TikTok had been carried out by the government security group, a team within the Cabinet Office, and that the National Cyber Security Centre had identified security risks related to the app.

The report said the ban would not apply to the personal devices of ministers and civil servants, though advice would be issued to explain the risks of using the app.

Hours before the Sunak interviews were broadcast, Downing Street had suggested no imminent changes were planned in the position on TikTok being installed on government phones.

Last week, TikTok gave further details of its plan to assuage the concerns of European governments about the security of the platform.

Entitled Project Clover, the framework includes the storage of user data on servers in Ireland and Norway at an annual cost of ¤1.2bn (£1.1bn), with any data transfers outside Europe being vetted by a third-party IT company.