Civil servants in Eindhoven are no longer allowed to use TikTok at work

The municipality of Eindhoven is taking drastic steps to ensure data privacy in the workplace. Therefore, civil servants of the municipality of Eindhoven are no longer allowed to use the popular social media platform TikTok at work, according to Eindhovens Dagblad.

Since the end of November 2022, civil servants no longer have access to the Chinese video app at their workplaces, nor can they install it on their work phones.

In general, access to TikTok will no longer only be impossible on work phones, but will be made inaccessible for all devices used at the workplace in the future, according to the Eindhoven municipality spokesperson. Access to the TikTok website has also been blocked.

According to the Eindhoven municipality spokesperson, TikTok "is not explicitly banned, but is made technically impossible by default," Eindhovens Dagblad reported. This week, the municipality of Eindhoven eventually deleted its TikTok account.

However, the protective measures of the municipality of Eindhoven are not entirely unfounded. This is because the app, which is used globally, has been the subject of criticism for some time. Because the social media platform is technically capable of recording keystrokes. According to Omroep West, this has fueled fears among many that private and sensitive information is no longer secure and will ultimately end up with the Chinese government, as TikTok is alleged to have ties to the Chinese government.