The government of France has banned TikTok, and all other recreational apps, from phones issued to its employees.

The nation’s Ministère de la transformation et de la fonction publiques last Friday issued a statement [PDF] announcing the policy, which Minister of Transformation and Public Service Stanislas Guerini justified on grounds that no recreational apps have sufficiently robust security for them to be deployed on government-owned devices.

The minister warned that the apps represent a risk to data stored by government agencies and their employees.

Guerini stated that some exceptions will be allowed, but only for apps needed for official communication.

The announcement doesn’t include a date for removing apps from government devices.

Several nations have already banned TikTok from government-owned devices on grounds that the app’s Chinese staffers can see user data.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was last week grilled by the USA’s . House Committee on Energy and Commerce. It didn’t go well, with several members saying the app should be banned outright - not just from government devices - because TikTok is linked to the Chinese Communist Party.

https://www.theregister.com//2023/03/27/france_bans_all_recreational_apps/