France bans ‘recreational’ use of TikTok, Twitter, Instagram on official phones

France announced Friday it is banning the “recreational” use of TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and other apps on government employees’ phones because of concern about insufficient data security measures.

The move follows similar restrictions on TikTok in democratic countries amid fears about the popular video-sharing app’s Chinese connections. But the French decision also encompassed other platforms widely used by government officials, lawmakers and President Emmanuel Macron himself.

The French Minister for Transformation and Public Administration, Stanislas Guerini, said in a statement that ‘’recreational” apps aren’t secure enough to be used in state administrative services and ’’could present a risk for the protection of data.”