The Dutch ministry said it discouraged on phones distributed by the government the use of all apps from "countries with an aggressive cyberprogram targeted at the Netherlands or Dutch interests".

Dutch civil servants will soon no longer be allowed to use the Chinese-owned video app TikTok on their work phones, the Dutch Interior ministry said on Tuesday, following similar decisions by other European countries.

The Dutch ministry said it discouraged on phones distributed by the government the use of all apps from "countries with an aggressive cyberprogram targeted at the Netherlands or Dutch interests".

The Dutch intelligence agency AIVD last month listed China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as having such an offensive cyber program, which created the risk of espionage.

Belgium this month also banned TikTok, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, from the phones and computers of federal government workers.