A recent bill introduced by former Innovation Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen has garnered support from both the coalition and opposition. The bill would ban the use of apps controlled by foreign states, including TikTok, on government-issued phones used by certain state employees, including ministers and their close aides.
Farkash-Hacohen, chairman of the Knesset’s Advanced Technologies Committee, stressed that the bill is intended to address the risk of sensitive data being collected from government devices and potentially shared with foreign governments such as China.
“This law is not unusual and has already been implemented in countries such as the US, Australia, Canada, India and several EU countries,” she said, stressing the need for vigilance in light of current geopolitical concerns about China, Russia and Iran.
The proposal follows a discussion in June in the Knesset’s Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technologies Committee, which included representatives from Israel’s National Security Council, TikTok, the Data Protection Authority and other experts.
During the session, TikTok was accused of “silencing pro-Israel content” and research was presented showing that neutral TikTok accounts received significantly more anti-Israel than pro-Israel content.
Currently, more than 20 Israeli ministers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and key members of the security cabinet, maintain TikTok accounts.
TikTok, which has billions of users worldwide, including 3.8 million in Israel, has been under scrutiny for its data collection practices. Notably, in 2020, the app was found to have violated Google’s policies by secretly collecting user data. In 2021, it added the collection of biometric data to its terms of service without a clear justification.
Concerns have also been raised in the US that TikTok is tracking American citizens and journalists. Cybersecurity experts warn that the app can extract data from devices and trace it back to China, where TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is based. ByteDance is subject to Chinese laws that require companies to share data with authorities upon request, a requirement that is only vaguely outlined in TikTok’s terms of service.
