The Ministry of Justice and Civil Protection on Tuesday advised against the use of the Tiktok and Telegram apps on service phones and tablets following an assessment by the National Security Authority (NSM).

– We have chosen to follow up on this with immediate effect in relation to ministers, state secretaries and political advisers. Based on this, the prime minister has decided that no minister, secretary of state or political adviser should have Tiktok or Telegram on their phones or tablets on duty, Secretary of State Kristine Kallset told the Prime Minister’s Office ( SMK) to NTB.

Minister of Justice and Civil Protection Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) received the assessment from NSM on Monday.

– I support NSM’s assessment. Therefore, the Ministry of Justice and Civil Protection will today send letters to all ministries where we advise against having Tiktok and Telegram on service units, says Mehl.

Tiktok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, which collects large amounts of data about its users. Telegram has Russian owners.

– High risk

NSM advises that applications should not be installed on devices with access to the company’s internal digital infrastructure or services, as this carries a high risk.

This should also apply to private sector employees who are subject to the Security Act in whole or in part, according to NSM.

– Other applications such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat also collect a lot of information. NSM points to the challenge of a possible commercial resale of this data. Everyone who uses social media should therefore have a conscious relationship with the information they share and the settings they have on their phone, says Mehl.

The recommendation is not a ban on Tiktok or Telegram, but advice that they should not be installed on service devices, NSM points out.

If there is a service need for the apps, NSM recommends that they be installed on a separate device that is only used for that purpose.

Mehl had Tiktok

Mehl was criticized for this she had tiktok on her phone, and for not responding openly about it. She admitted to having the app on her unrated service phone for a month, but said she didn’t have Tiktok on her rated phone. The case ended with Mehl having to answer for himself before the Storting.

– I tried to answer as openly as possible. I’m sorry I wasn’t more open sooner and helped create uncertainty,” Mehl said.

Banned in several countries

In a number of other countries, Tiktok is already banned on service phones, including the US, UK, Canada and Denmark. The United States also recently threatened to shut down the app to American users if the Chinese owner of Tiktok did not sell its share. US lawmakers fear data on Americans will end up with Chinese authorities.

Several pointed to legislation in China that Chinese companies must provide customer information if asked to do so.