Tory MPs Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Nusrat Ghani and Tom Tugendhat, who were banned from entering China last year, wrote to the parliamentary authorities on July 28 urging the account be closed (Credit: UK Parliament portrait)

Nadine Osman

The UK Parliament’s TikTok account was deactivated on August 3, mere days after its launch after MPs voiced concerns about the social media firm’s links with China.

MPs sanctioned by Beijing in March last year for their support for Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, wrote to the parliamentary authorities on July 28 urging the account be closed “until credible assurances can be given that no data whatsoever can be transferred to China”.

In the letter, first reported by Politico, they pointed to China’s national intelligence law which forces companies to hand over data to the government at its request.

In a statement released on August 3, a UK Parliament spokesperson said: “Based on member feedback, we are closing the pilot UK Parliament TikTok account earlier than we had planned.

“The account was a pilot initiative while we tested the platform as a way of reaching younger audiences with relevant content about parliament.”

TikTok, owned by parent firm ByteDance, has over one billion active users.T heo Bertram, the company’s vice president for government relations and public policy in Europe, told MPs in July “we have never been asked to provide TikTok user data to the Chinese government, nor would we if asked”.

However, in July, Buzzfeed received leaked audio files from more than 80 internal TikTok meetings, which revealed that China-based employees of ByteDance had repeatedly accessed non-public data about US TikTok users.

As one of those sanctioned by China, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith welcomed parliament’s decision to shut down the TikTok account. “[They] understood there was a problem and shut it down. It’s important for others to look at that now, and we need to start talking to people about not using TikTok.”

Other members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China who have been sanctioned by China include Nusrat Ghani, Tim Loughton, and peers Baroness Kennedy and Lord Alton. As well as Tory MPs Tom Tugendhat and Neil O’Brien, who lead the China Research Group.

A TikTok spokeswoman said, “While it is disappointing that parliament will no longer be able to connect with the millions of people who use TikTok in the UK, we reiterate the offer to reassure those members of parliament who raised concerns and clarify any inaccuracies about our platform.”