Von der Leyen: TikTok ban in the European Union "not out of the question"
Her remarks came before the European Parliament elections and amid a series of bad news for TikTok in Europe
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has hinted that banning the Chinese platform TikTok in the European Union is an option. She made the remarks during a debate in Maastricht with the leading candidates for the European Parliament elections to be held in June this year.
Source. This was reported by Politico.
"It's not out of the question," Von der Leyen said, referring to the United States, where TikTok could be banned if its owner, ByteDance, does not sell it.
Von der Leyen immediately added that the European Commission was "the first institution worldwide to ban TikTok on our corporate phones".
"We know exactly what dangers TikTok poses," she said.
Von der Leyen was not speaking as the EC president in Maastricht, but as the leading candidate of the centre-right European People's Party.
Her remarks came amid a series of bad news for TikTok in Europe.
Last week, TikTok decided to suspend a feature that rewarded users for interacting with the TikTok Lite app after the European Commission began to investigate the feature under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU's law for content moderation.
A separate investigation into TikTok – also under the DSA – is underway into alleged violations of the protection of minors. Under the DSA, the European Commission may issue a temporary suspension order against TikTok as a last resort.
Background. Former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly said that he was putting together a consortium to try to buy TikTok.
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