Assistant Director General of the National Security Council (NSC) of the Philippines, Jonathan Malaya, said on 9 September 2023 that the country should consider banning the use of the Chinese-owned app TikTok.
At least among military, police and other security agencies – a partial ban which has already been imposed in both Denmark and Norway earlier this year, where government employees are advised to delete or not download the popular social media app.
“Should there be a need for the ban, it will not be for public school teachers and civilians, but for the members of the security sector,” Malaya said in a media forum.
“I would think we should seriously consider it for the security sector alone, not for the other civilian agencies of government. And precisely, the reason is for operational security,” he added.
Malaya did however stress that any move towards the ban needs careful studying and measurement, noting that the country has laws protecting freedom of speech and expression.
Therefore NSC has already been monitoring other countries, especially the Philippines’ Western allies, who already have imposed such bans on government employees devices – all due to concerns that China might use the social media for espionage or perhaps propaganda.
Source: OneNews PH and Inquirer.Net
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