First EU institutions to ban TikTok
European Parliament monitors possible data breaches
TikTok says ban is misguided, cites fundamental misconceptions

BRUSSELS, Feb 23 Reuters The European Union39;s two biggest policymaking institutions have banned TikTok from staff phones for cybersecurity reasons, marking growing concerns about the Chinese short videosharing app and its users data.

TikTok, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, is under scrutiny from governments and regulators because of concerns that China39;s government could use its app to harvest users39; data or advance its interests.

EU industry chief Thierry Breton, who announced a ban by the European Commission, declined to say whether the Commission had been subject to any incidents involving TikTok.

An official also said on Thursday that staff at the EU Council, which brings together representatives of the member states to set policy priorities, would also have to uninstall TikTok from their personal phones with access to EU Council services.

Responding to the announcement, Tiktok said it was disappointed and surprised that the Commission had not reached out before instituting the ban.

The U.S. Senate in December passed a bill to bar federal employees from using TikTok on governmentowned devices. TikTok is banned in India.

The EU executive Commission said in a statement that the decision would apply to work and personal phones and devices.

To increase its cybersecurity, the Commission39;s…