The social media platform TikTok can be used as a "cyber espionage weapon"; hence, banning it is crucial amid the "Chinese information and propaganda operations happening in the Philippines," National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said on Wednesday.

Malaya, in a television interview, said NSC Secretary Eduardo Año has ordered the creation of a special task group to study the banning of TikTok applications among government security personnel.

Members of the task group come from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

"We will meet very soon, and the purpose is to make a thorough study on the proposal to ban TikTok among security personnel of the government," Malaya said.

He said the proposal aims to protect the security personnel from data collection attempts and cyber espionage, as well as China's possible use of the app as a social influence tool.

"You know, through an algorithm, it can affect civic discourse, so on that basis, we are making this study, and we hope to finish it soon so that we can take the proper recommendation to National Security Adviser Año," he said.

While other applications also do surveillance through advertising as much as TikTok, Malaya pointed out that "they are not Chinese companies."

"If you are a Western company, there are recourses you can take against the government. If the government wants to get your personal data, you can go to court and appeal," he said.

He added: "But unfortunately, TikTok is owned by ByteDance, which is a Chinese company based in China, and as you all know, under Chinese law, all Chinese companies have to cooperate with their government, with the Chinese Communist Party if required to do so."

Malaya said, "Chinese information and propaganda operations" have been happening in the Philippines.

"So we are doing this as a proactive step to ensure the security of our personnel," he said, citing an incident where TikTok was caught spying on a journalist of Forbes magazine in the United States.

"As we can see here, there's this possibility of using TikTok as a cyber espionage weapon," Malaya said.

NBI, BI, too

Meanwhile, Malaya said the inclusion of more agencies in the proposed TikTok ban has been suggested.

"But as I said, the study is still ongoing. For example, it's been suggested that the ban should also cover the Bureau of Immigration. They are part of the Department of Justice. Individuals too, for example, from the National Bureau of Investigation, who are into law enforcement," he said.

"But as I said, we're starting first with the security sector and maybe expand depending on what the study reveals as to the possibility of TikTok being a tool for data collection or cyber espionage," he said.

Meanwhile, the AFP has assured that "precautionary measures" are in place to protect national security from internal and external threats.

AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar said the military has implemented measures on the use of TikTok.

"Our thoughts on TikTok, actually, we had initiated precautionary measures so that we can be insulated from the spyware in this application," Aguilar had said in a previous interview.

"There is a policy already on the use of social media platforms to make sure the security of the organization is not exposed or compromised, and the credibility of the Armed Forces is also not compromised," he added.

A study by Meltwater showed that TikTok became the Philippines' third-most-used social media platform in January 2023.

Other countries, including the United States and New Zealand, earlier banned the TikTok app on government-issued devices due to concerns it could be used for spying or propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party. The European Commission and Canada also banned TikTok on its devices.

Its owner, Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has repeatedly denied accusations that it shares data with the Chinese government.