Taoiseach says he will adhere to any further security advice on his use of TikTok amid concerns

Simon Harris says he is adhering to security advice on TikTok, even as world leaders have banned the platform from their phones.

The Fine Gael leader has experienced a surge in traffic on his TikTok account and other social media platforms since becoming Taoiseach this week.

But it is just less than a year since the Government announced that official devices in Ireland should not have TikTok on them because of concerns around cyber security.

Last month the issue of national security and TikTok was raised at an Oireachtas committee, after the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) claimed TikTok posed “a serious threat to US national security”.

Jeremy Godfrey, the executive chair of Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland’s media regulator, said: “As to whether we see TikTok as a threat to national security, we are not a national security agency.

“Our job is to protect the users of platforms from harmful and illegal content but not to deal with those national security issues.”

The question arose at the Joint Committee on EU Affairs in relation to possible disinformation and manipulation of the European elections in June.

A spokesperson for Mr Harris said last night: “The National Cyber Security Centre has given all ministers advice in relation to TikTok.

“Minister Harris has adhered to that advice. As Taoiseach, he will follow any further advice on this matter.”

In the past three weeks Mr Harris has secured 1.3 million post views on TikTok, along with 12,000 comments and an increase in followers of 5,600.

On Instagram he now has 180,000 followers, up about a fifth on recent times. Mr Harris’s videos are now averaging 108,000 views, and on LinkedIn over the past week there was a sharp spike of 178pc in post impressions.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said: “I do think it is ironic that only a while ago the Irish Government was saying TikTok was a security risk because of Chinese state involvement, and now the Taoiseach is broadcasting on it from the Cabinet room.

“There may be some paranoia about it, but I would be equally concerned about Instagram and Meta’s Facebook.”

Ireland is the European headquarters of TikTok and the company will build one of the biggest data centres in Europe in Clondalkin. It will consume more energy and electricity in one day than the whole of the rest of Clondalkin in three months, said local TD Gino Kenny.

TikTok’s growth since coming to Ireland has been meteoric. At the start of 2022, TikTok had over 2,000 employees in Ireland, and the addition of another 1,000 that year underlined the company’s investment in Ireland.

But the security question arose at the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs last month in relation to possible disinformation and manipulation of the European elections in June.

The British government has banned TikTok at Westminster and prime minister Rishi Sunak and other members of Cabinet do not have the app on their official phones.

The then-taoiseach Michéal Martin and then-tánaiste Leo Varadkar welcomed the company’s recruitment in Ireland, however, meeting TikTok CEO Shouzi Chew and senior company leaders.

The two leaders were advised of TikTok’s strategy globally and Ireland’s role, being updated on TikTok’s growth in Ireland and future expansion plans.

Mr Varadkar went as far as to say: “We don’t take it for granted and will continue to work hard to make companies like TikTok feel welcome here.”

TikTok’s owner ByteDance, which is heavily influenced by the regime in Beijing, has been faced with a battery of moves against it by US authorities.

That’s because China’s controversial 2017 National Intelligence Law, also applying to Hong Kong, requires that all companies, organisations and citizens “support, assist and co-operate with national intelligence efforts”.

Washington-based think tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, says TikTok would have no right to appeal requests by the Chinese government for data.