Dems are pushing on Meloni. The Democratic Party urges the Italian government to act quickly on TikTok. Senator Enrico Borghi, a member of the Intelligence Committee of the Italian Parliament (known as COPASIR), submitted a motion (seen by our sister website Formiche.net) as the first signatory to commit the executive “to take decisions as quickly as possible regarding the removal of the TikTok app from all government devices in light of the obvious risks to the security of the data contained therein, thus addressing the dangerous delay that Italy has accumulated compared to the decisions taken by the European Commission and numerous other countries” such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
- Owned by Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok has faced controversy in many countries over concerns about the security of personal data.
- France recently banned the “recreational” use of TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and other apps on government employees’ phones due to inadequate data security measures.
- Stanislas Guerini, Minister of Public Sector Transformation and the Civil Service, cited the need to safeguard the cybersecurity of administrations and civil servants.
- Last week, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee. According to expert Casey Newton, “TikTok failed to make the case for itself.”
The American tip-off. A COPASIR investigation was reportedly discussed during one of the last sittings of the Committee following rising concern about the app in the United States. In late 2022 President Joe Biden signed off on banning the app from all government employees’ devices.
- It remains to be seen whether the Meloni government will take action on this issue.
- Recently, Italy’s Public Administration Minister Paolo Zangrillo, raised the issue. “It is appropriate to look into the matter and understand whether there are any security risks for users of this social networking site.” When asked whether Rome had plans to ban the app anytime soon, he replied, “absolutely not. Also because, moreover, it is not my decision.”
