Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attempted to justify in an interview with Mega on Wednesday morning on the reason why he uses TikTok despite his own cabinet being banned from having the app on their mobile phones.
In particular, as he said, "we have to use the platforms that young people use" and referred to TikTok , which he also uses when posting videos.
“I found it very interesting, very interactive, and very honest. It enables me to communicate directly with them", noted the Prime Minister.
"You know TikTok is a very powerful tool. It also raises many questions, because it is an algorithm developed in China and we must be careful, as public figures, how we use such tools. On my own mobile phone, I do not have the application and I have also forbidden all the members of my cabinet from having it," said Mitsotakis.
A recommendation not to use the application on office phones for security reasons has been given in many countries, but the European Commission has also banned the use of TikTok on its official devices.
Australia has become the latest country to ban TikTok from federal government devices, as concerns grow over the privacy and security of the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.
The United States, Canada, Britain and New Zealand - which form with Australia the so-called "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing partners - have all taken similar steps against TikTok in recent weeks.
Experts fear sensitive information could be exposed when the app is downloaded, especially on government devices.
TikTok disputes accusations that it collects more user data than other social media companies and has called the bans "basic misinformation," saying these had been decided with "no deliberation or evidence".
TikTok is owned by the Chinese technology company Bytedance but it insists it is run independently and does not share data with the Chinese government. It is currently carrying out a project to store US user data in Texas, which it says will put it out of China’s reach.
However, many countries remain cautious about the platform and its ties to China. Western technology companies, including Airbnb, Yahoo, and LinkedIn, have also been leaving China or downsizing operations there because of Beijing's strict privacy law, which specifies how companies can collect and store data.
READ MORE: Tsipras once again challenges Mitsotakis to a televised debate.
