GENEVA

Denmark's Defense Ministry on Monday banned its employees from using the popular social media platform TikTok on official devices, assessing there was a risk of espionage.  

"The decision has been taken in continuation of the recommendation from the Center for Cyber Security (CFCS) on 24 February 2023," the ministry said in a statement.

The CFCS assessed that the app should be removed, as it "asks for certain rights and access on the device," it said.

"There are weighty security considerations within the defense ministry combined with a very limited work-related need to use the app," said the ministry in explaining the reason behind the ban.

It said all employees have been informed of the decision and "are required to uninstall TikTok on service phones and other official devices as soon as possible if they had previously installed it."

The ministry did not give further details on how many employees have the app installed.