– We suspect that it is convenience rather than security considerations that lie behind Mehl’s failure to answer direct questions about this for several months. This is what Storting politician Sveinung Stensland (H) says to news. – It is quite startling when the National Security Authority (NSM), which is under the wing of the Minister of Justice, says that it is unproblematic to answer this, he says. CRITICAL: Right-wing Sveinung Stensland wants the prime minister is now asking questions to the prime minister. Photo: Knut-Sverre Horn Stensland says the Conservative Party’s trust in the Center Party minister has weakened. – Other ministers have responded to this, but Mehl has not responded and justified it with security considerations. Then we will have clarified whether there are security considerations in the prime minister’s eyes that speak for not talking about this. In a number of articles, Dagbladet has problematized the Minister of Justice’s use of TikTok. The newspaper has asked several times whether she has also downloaded the Chinese-owned app on her work phone. Dagbladet has referred to anonymous sources who know that this has been the case, but Mehl has not himself answered this question in a satisfactory way, believes Stensland, who is deputy chairman of the justice committee at the Storting. Wants to answer the Storting first news has submitted Stensland’s statements to the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness, which responds as follows in an email: – The Minister of State has answered questions on this topic from the media and the Storting a number of times. There are currently written questions to be answered by the Storting on the topic, and the Minister wishes to answer the Storting first. news has also asked the Prime Minister’s office what security considerations mean that Mehl cannot answer the Storting or the public about whether she has had TikTok installed on her work phone. – The Storting will, in the usual way, get an answer to this before we answer the media, replies State Secretary Kristoffer Thoner. Expert: Breach, breach, breach Gaute Wangen is an associate professor at NTNU and an expert in information security risk management. He is aware that TikTok on the work phone is a violation of at least three of the advice from the National Security Agency (NSM) security rules on mobile phone use in the service if you are in government. – TikTok is so invasive that it is a violation of advice 11, 12 and 13, Wangen tells Dagbladet. NSM is subject to political governance from the Ministry of Justice, Emilie Enger Mehl, head. Wangen elaborates on how TikTok violates NSM’s advice. – Point 11 because TikTok needs to have access to a microphone and camera to work, and it also collects location data. Point 12 because TikTok is not necessary in the performance of services and is basically a security challenge in itself. And point 13 because TikTok really belongs to privacy and data-collecting apps should be kept there, he says. Conservative minister Storting representative Sveinung Stensland from Rogaland also points out that the questions surrounding TikTok use have been raised with Mehl on ten different occasions: Eight written questions, in addition to the throne speech debate and during question time. – Can the Prime Minister explain what security considerations prevent the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice and Emergency Preparedness from disclosing whether they have had the Chinese app TikTok installed on their service phones? asks the Conservative leader now Støre. QUESTION: FRP’s justice policy spokesperson Per-Willy Amundsen. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen He also asks for an answer as to whether the prime minister will “consider giving official instructions that prohibit the use of TikTok and other similar apps on service phones in the government apparatus”. The Progress Party’s justice policy spokesperson Per-Willy Amundsen has also become involved in the case. He asks Mehl to answer whether the minister “by claiming that her mobile use is in line with the current advice on mobile use, misled the Storting about the extent to which TikTok has been installed on her service phone”. – Why is this so important, Stensland? – The Minister of Justice is the person most responsible for Norway’s security in peacetime. We know that foreign powers use those kinds of apps to monitor phones. Then it is serious if the minister responsible for Norwegian domestic intelligence, preparedness and security has an app on his phone that the Chinese can access. In the past, it has been known that Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg and today’s deputy leaders Tina Bru and Henrik Asheim had for a period TikTok installed on their phones in the summer of 2020. Then all three were in government, and they eventually deleted the app. – Are you sitting in a glass house here? – Conservative ministers have been open about their TikTok use, it was a new app and many years ago. Now we are talking about the situation here and now and the world situation is completely different now than a few years ago, says Stensland.
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Støre must answer about Mehl’s TikTok use – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
