A prohibition on the use of video-sharing application “Tiktok” among personnel in the security sector is being considered by the National Security Council (NSC).

At a news forum in Quezon City on Saturday, Sept. 9, NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said the move is part of their effort to raise consciousness among its personnel on the possible psychological warfare and misinformation on the social media platform.

However, Malaya clarified that the plan is still being carefully studied so as not to raise conflict on the right of the public to self-expression.

If approved, Malaya said the ban will only be limited to personnel in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and other intelligence government agencies.

Relatedly, AFP spokesperson Col. Medel Aguilar said a new security policy is being implemented in all military facilities nationwide, particularly on the use of cellular phones and other electronic devices, and social media on duty.

“We initiated precautionary measures so that we can be insulated from any conduct of espionage if there is anyone using these applications. But as far as its usage on (an) individual by our personnel, there is a policy already on the use of social media platforms,” he said.

Aguilar said this was to ensure the security of the organization and its personnel, and to maintain the credibility and good image of the AFP.

Tiktok is a video-sharing social media platform owned by tech company ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, China.

Tiktok is reportedly banned in a number of countries. Its management, according to reports, already denied it was sharing data collected from users with the Chinese government.