People should delete TikTok from their phones to keep personal data safe from hostile threats, a senior MP has said.
Tory Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested the video-sharing platform is linked to China’s efforts to build a “tech totalitarian state”.
There have been concerns around TikTok’s links to China because its parent company is Chinese and critics fear data could be passed to the state.
Last year, TikTok executive Liz Kanter insisted the platform has not been asked for UK user data by the Chinese government and would not provide it if it was.
But speaking after the US shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, Ms Kearns told Sky’s Sophy Ridge: “We are being naive.
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“We’ve now seen that people working in China for TikTok hacked into European data so it could track down the source of a journalist.
“TikTok gives away the data that makes you most vulnerable.
“There’s a reason why China has this app. There’s a reason why they’re buying up gay dating apps.”
She warned: “Everyone should be concerned.”