Germany has become the latest western state to restrict its officials’ use of TikTok, the Chinese video-sharing app, as pressure builds in the US for a nationwide ban.
The platform, launched on the global market by the Chinese company ByteDance five years ago, is thought to have about 1.5 billion regular users and is particularly popular with teenagers and younger adults.
ByteDance has been accused of suppressing videos about subjects the Chinese communist party finds uncomfortable, such as the persecution of the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang or the protests in Hong Kong.
TikTok is also subject to Chinese national security laws that could force the owners to hand over data to the authorities. While the company insists it has never been asked to do
