Universities in the Czech Republic are urging faculty, staff and students to uninstall the short video sharing app TikTok from devices connected to the university network, following a warning from the Czech National Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (NUKIB) that TikTok poses a security threat.
Charles University, the largest, oldest and most prestigious university in the Czech Republic, has called on its employees to remove the TikTok app from all work devices connected to the university's internet network.
This is a measure that many other schools are also implementing. The Prague University of Economics has gone even further, banning all administrators and senior staff from using TikTok on work-related electronic devices. Brno University of Technology has also banned its employees from using the social media app on school devices.
In addition to calling on students to uninstall TikTok from their desktops, laptops, mobile phones and tablets, some other schools, such as Mendel University in Brno, have sent out recommendations to staff and students explaining that when TikTok is installed, it automatically collects data from call history, location and even contacts on electronic devices.
Many universities in the Czech Republic have long used TikTok accounts to promote themselves, but after NUKIB's recommendation, schools such as Masaryk University or Pardubice University are now having to gradually cancel their TikTok accounts.
On March 8, NUKIB issued a warning about the risk of cyber security in the Czech Republic due to the installation and use of the Chinese social networking application TikTok. According to the agency, TikTok collects a lot of information about users and it is unclear who has access to that data. Based on this warning, government agencies in the Czech Republic have taken the lead in banning employees from using the TikTok application on electronic devices used for work.
News and photos: VNA
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