The , the executive wing of the European Union, has been banned from the devices it owns. He also asked his staff to remove the app from personal phones and tablets that are part of his mobile device service; in other words, whatever device they use to work.

“This measure aims to protect the Commission against cyber security threats and actions that can be exploited for cyber attacks against the Commission’s corporate environment,” the EC said in a statement. “The security developments of other social media platforms will also be kept under constant review.”

The CE has approximately 32,000 permanent and contract employees. He asked them to remove TikTok as soon as possible and no later than March 15, according to the . If workers do not turn in on time, they will lose access to corporate applications, including the EC email service and Skype for Business.

“We believe this suspension is wrong and based on fundamental misconceptions,” a TikTok spokesperson told Engadget. “We are surprised that the Commission has not contacted us directly or offered any explanation. We have requested a meeting to set the record straight on how we protect the data of the 125 million people across the EU who visit TikTok every month We” We continue to enhance our approach to data security, including establishing three data centers in Europe to store user data locally, further reducing employee access to data and minimizing data flows out of Europe”.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is based in China. Officials in several countries have been told about the Chinese government that it could use the app to access user data, as well as .

The United States government has most of the devices. Officials have enacted similar bans, while TikTok is banned on some university networks. There are also efforts to In November, the EC said there were multiple ongoing investigations into TikTok’s data practices.