Which countries have banned TikTok? France bans platform in New Caledonia amid violent riots

France has banned TikTok in New Caledonia and has imposed a state of emergency on the French-ruled island after protests left four dead and hundreds wounded.

Troops were also sent to New Caledonia's ports and international airport. 

French authorities reported a third night of "clashes”, and more than 200 "rioters" have been arrested since the clashes broke out, according to the high commission.

The protests took place against a French plan to impose new voting rules on its Pacific archipelago.

"No violence will be tolerated," said French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, adding that the state of emergency "will allow us to roll out massive means to restore order".

Officials said that hundreds of people, including 64 police, have been wounded.

At a crisis ministerial meeting, Mr Gabriel Attal said that TikTok had been banned because it was being used by rioters.

By Thursday morning, AFP could identify less than 20 accounts related to the violence on the app.

Here is a comprehensive look at all the countries that have banned TikTok.

While there isn’t a nationwide ban on TikTok in the UK, the app was banned from UK government phones on March 16.

Security minister Tom Tugendhat had told Sky News he had asked the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to look into the app. He said it was “absolutely essential” to keep the UK’s “diplomatic processes free and safe”.

TikTok has also been fined £12.7 million by the UK's data watchdog for failing to safeguard children's privacy. Up to 1.4 million UK youngsters under the age of 13 were reportedly permitted to use TikTok in 2020.

According to an inquiry by the Information Commissioner's Office, the video-sharing website exploited the data of children of this age without getting permission from their parents (ICO).

While TikTok owner ByteDance has tried its best to settle lawsuits and appease concerns, some nations have decided to ban it either totally or partially.

In February 2023, the US government revealed that it had ordered all of its federal employees to remove TikTok from their government-issued phones to protect confidential data.

More than half of the 50 US states have banned the app from government devices.

A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry criticised the move, saying: “We firmly oppose those wrong actions. The US government should respect the principles of market economy and fair competition, stop suppressing the companies, and provide an open, fair, and non-discriminatory environment for foreign companies in the US.”

They added: “How unsure of itself can the world’s top superpower like the US be to fear young people’s favourite app like that.”

The US House of Representatives passed legislation on March 13, 2024, which requires Chinese-owned ByteDance to sell off TikTok within six months or be banned from the US.

ByteDance has since filed a lawsuit against the US government ban.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to ban TikTok after a review by the Home Affairs department.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus declared in a statement that the ban would go into force “as soon as practicable” and that exceptions would only be made where necessary and after taking security precautions.

Lee Hunter, general manager of TikTok for Australia and New Zealand, asserted that the app shouldn't be singled out.

In a statement, Hunter stated that TikTok shouldn't be handled any differently from other social media platforms since “there is no evidence to suggest that it is in any way a security issue for Australians”.

Mr Albanese also said there were “no plans” to put a complete ban in place as the US have.

France has banned the “recreational” use of TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and other apps on government employees’ phones because of concerns about insufficient data security measures.

The ban is to come into force immediately, the Ministry of Public Sector Transformation and the Civil Service wrote on Twitter on March 24.

He added that for several weeks, many of France’s European and international partners have adopted measures to restrict or ban the downloading and installation of or the use of the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok by their administrations.

Mr Guerini said recreational applications do not have sufficient levels of cybersecurity and data protection in order to be deployed on administrations’ equipment, adding that exemptions can be given for professional reasons, such as institutional communication of an administration.

The North American nation also banned TikTok from being installed on any government-issued devices.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explained the reason: “I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones, many Canadians from business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices,

“I’m always a fan of giving Canadians the information for them to make the right decisions for them.”

This year, Canada ordered its own national security review of TikTok.

A poll also suggested that 51 per cent of Canadians support banning the video-sharing app.

The wave of bans within the EU began with the European Commission and the EU Council temporarily banning TikTok from employee phones as a cybersecurity measure.

Later, in February 2023, the European Parliament revealed that it would follow suit.

Aside from downloading the video-sharing app on their work phones, employees have also been barred from going on the platform on their private devices — if their parliament email and other network accesses are installed on them.

India banned TikTok in June 2020 alongside some other Chinese apps. It believes the app threatens its national security and defence — and that it also encourages pornography.

India was TikTok’s largest international market before the ban, with more than 200 million users.

In 2022, the Taiwanese government banned TikTok from all public-sector devices. This followed concerns that the Chinese government was conducting “cognitive warfare” against the nation.

Pakistan has banned the video-sharing app several times, with the latest ban concluding in November 2021.

In April 2022, a Taliban spokesperson said the government was planning to ban the app. This was because of the negative impact it had on the younger generation and its inconsistencies with their Islamic laws.

It has recently been banned, with the Taliban stating that the app’s “filthy content was not consistent with Islamic laws”, according to The Sun.

In Iran, TikTok is entirely banned as TikTok’s rules and Iran’s laws are not compatible.

The Asian country confirmed the ban in November 2023, citing TikTok "was detrimental to social harmony”. 

More than 1,600 TikTok-related cyber crime cases have been registered over the last four years in Nepal, according to local media reports.

Nepal Telecom Authority chairman Purushottam Khanal said that internet service providers have been asked to close the app.