Majority of Parliament wants Dutch TikTok user data protected from China

A majority of the Tweede Kamer believes that the Cabinet should prevent the sensitive personal data of Dutch TikTok users from ending up in the hands of the Chinese government. The Members of Parliament were responding to reports from the NOS stating that TikTok's privacy policy was adjusted and that, as a result, employees of the Chinese social media and video platform can access data from European users.

MPs from D66, GroenLinks, PvdA, DENK, ChristenUnie, PVV, Volt, CDA, SP and VVD have submitted questions about TikTok's new privacy policy to Economic Affairs Minister Micky Adriaansens and Alexandra van Huffelen, the state secretary in charge of digitalization policy. The social media platform has a Chinese parent company, and the parliamentarians fear that employees with ties to the government there may have access to personal data of Dutch users.

Hind Dekker-Abdulaziz of D66 fears that this information will be used by the Chinese government to create psychological profiles of users, and with no transparency about what will happen to the data or the profiles. "Millions of Dutch people use TikTok, many of which are minors," she said.

The parliamentarians who authored the questions believe the Cabinet should take action. They also urged the European Commission to intervene.

TikTok said in a press release about the company's new privacy policy that the privacy of users is actually better protected because of the policy change. According to the social media platform, the number of employees who can access personal data has been reduced. TikTok also said that information from European users is also being secured and kept within Europe as best as possible.