I’m not leaving TikTok!
Minister Shapps vows to keep using app on private phone despite security fears
Grant Shapps has vowed to continue using tiktok on his personal phone despite it being banned on Government work devices.
the Energy Security Secretary even announced his controversial move on the videosharing app – posting an expletive-laden clip from the Wolf of Wall Street in which actor Leonardo DiCaprio declares: ‘I’m not leaving.’
It came as the Government introduced the ban yesterday amid fears of spying by China.
Mr Shapps, who has 14,400 followers on tiktok, posted: ‘this morning the Government announced a tiktok ban on government devices. that’s sensible. I’ve never used tiktok on government devices and can hereby confirm I will nOt be leaving tiktok any time soon!’
He believes the app, which has an estimated 9million active users in the UK, is a crucial way for MPs to connect with the public.
the Ministry of Defence itself set up an official tiktok account just a few days ago – even though military personnel and civilian staff are banned from having the app on work or personal phones.
the MoD plans to use the channel to highlight the training Ukrainian soldiers are receiving in the UK. a spokesman insisted: ‘robust processes are in place to ensure our devices are secure.’
MPs called for the ban to be extended to ministers’ and civil servants’ personal devices to further reduce security risks.
Labour’s andrew Western asked if Mr Shapps ‘will be leading by example, doing us all a favour and deleting his tiktok account’.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, co-chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary alliance on China, called for an edict that ‘any Government minister or senior official who has their private phone with tiktok in it should remove it because that gets rid of the risk’.
Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden, who announced the ban, replied: ‘Of course ministers need to exercise heightened caution.’
although its head office is in Beijing, tiktok said it does not cooperate with the government there. a spokesman said: ‘We believe these bans have been based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics, in which tiktok, and our millions of users in the UK, play no part.’