Japan may ban TikTok if users don’t follow these guidelines

Gadgets Now Bureau / Gadgets Now / Updated: Mar 27, 2023, 09:43PM IST

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Japan may ban TikTok if users don’t follow these guidelines

TikTok has been under scrutiny in several countries and regions. Recently, TikTok CEO faced questions by the US Congress on the app's alleged ties with the Chinese government. Meanwhile, several European countries banned the short video platform, either partially or completely, on government devices. Now, Japan has reportedly said that it is planning to compile a proposal to ban social networking services.

According to a report by Reuters, lawmakers from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are planning to compile a proposal next month urging the government to ban services such as TikTok if they are used for disinformation campaigns.

There have been allegations on TikTok that the app could be used for data collection, content censorship and harm to children's mental health.

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"If it's verified that an app has been intentionally used by a certain party of a certain country for their influence operations with malice ..., promptly halting the service should be considered," Norihiro Nakayama, a senior member of a ruling party lawmakers' group, was quoted as saying.

"Making it clear that operations can be halted will help keep app operators in check as it means TikTok's 17 million users (in Japan), for example, will lose their access. It will also lead to a sense of security for users," Nakayama said.

'Not targeting any particular platform'
Nakayama said that the proposal will not be targeted at any particular platform. It is to be noted that in Japan, the use of TikTok and other social networking services (SNSs) are already prohibited on government devices that handle confidential information.

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As per Nakayama, further restrictions will be considered only after looking into their data-handling and other operations. "I believe we first need to make it possible for people outside to firmly grasp how data is being handled whenever concerns are raised," Nakayama said.

India imposed a complete ban TikTok in 2020.

Until now, the UK parliament, the Dutch and Belgian administrations, and the New Zealand parliament have banned TikTok on official devices. Recently, France also announced that the use of apps such as TikTok and Netflix is banned for "recreational" purposes on official devices.

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