NSC studying possible TikTok ban in government security sector

MANILA, Philippines — The National Security Council (NSC) is studying the possibility of banning TikTok in the government’s security sector due to concerns the Chinese social media platform is being used for spying.

NSC assistant director general Jonathan Malaya said on Saturday he will discuss the issue with National Security Adviser Eduardo Año.

Should it be implemented, Malaya said the ban should be limited to the government’s security sector.
“I would think that we should seriously consider for the security sector alone, not for the other civilian agencies of government,” he said during the Saturday News Forum at the Dapo Restaurant and Bar.

When asked to elaborate, Malaya said among these are the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police and intelligence agencies of the government.

“If there is a need for banning, it would not be for public school teachers, it would not be for those in the civilian agencies,” he said.

Among the countries that have banned TikTok on government devices are Australia, Belgium and Canada.

Malaya stressed any move to ban the social media platform needs careful study, noting the country has laws protecting freedom of speech and expression.

AFP spokesman Col. Medel Aguilar said they have implemented precautionary measures on the use of TikTok.

He said there were situations wherein their personnel and even visitors were asked to surrender their cell phones when entering certain military offices.

Socmed passport?

Meanwhile, a Filipina was blocked from leaving the country after presenting a passport from Belgium, which she apparently bought on TikTok for P700,000.

Personnel from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) stopped the female from boarding a Kuwait Airlines plane bound for Cyprus at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 last Sept. 7, the agency said in a statement last Sept. 9.

The agency reported that she told officers at the BI counter she was “transiting from Kuwait to Izmar, Turkey.”

However, they “noted numerous inconsistencies in her passport and supposed arrival stamps.”

The BI’s forensics laboratory verified that her “passport, residence card and immigration stamps were all counterfeit.”

She later admitted that she bought the said passport on TikTok, which “offered EU (European Union) passports to travel visa-free to multiple countries.”

She claimed she paid a total of P700,000 for the said fake passport, after she was offered to work as caregiver in Greece with a monthly salary equivalent to P180,000.

The BI also found that the woman was deported from Israel early last year for “working without a valid visa.” – Ghio Ong