What I don't understand is why is it possible to install TikTok or anything else on these phones in the first place.

Are these private smartphones used for work, or unmanaged phones issued to personnel?

Probably both. It’s fairly common to be able to add your work email to your personal phone. That gives the Outlook administrator the ability to monitor what’s installed and remotely nuke data.

It’s extremely useful to get your work email on your phone when your job requires you to be somewhat available all the time which represents a lot of senior jobs in the EU institutions.

There are plenty of potential work reasons to have TikTok. Public affairs, event planning are most obvious.

Not everyone works in public affairs. Those who need it can carry a specific phone that only has TikTok and nothing else.

Security researchers download nasty stuff but don't run it on their usual work laptops or networks.

True. But if TikTok is used as a nation state spy tool, installing it on your personal device with corporate mail is a risk.

Note that I’m not a believer in the evil of TikTok beyond what it is on its face. The performative aspect of it is absurd!

Exactly. Even if it isn't technically block, it must contravene Acceptable User Policies.

Let me guess: Google and Apple are ok. /s

Maybe the EU is, in the end, Uncle's Sam puppet.

I don't think it's a fair comparison. Yes, Google and Apple and Meta all collect data, but they are part of a country where their misuse can be challenged in fair courts and they can (and have) been fined.

I don't think if Meta was a Chinese company they would have ever had released(or allowed to) end to end encryption

What is done by the secrets services ia not challenged, at least not in real time.

It is exactly the same.

The difference is US being an ally, close in culture and other aspects that don't apply to China. If this is sinophobia why are we fine with Taiwan?

Sinophobia in British English (ˌsaɪnəʊˈfəʊbɪə IPA Pronunciation Guide ) noun

1. a fear or dislike of China, or Chinese people, their language or culture

2. a fear of goods made in China or goods labelled as made in China

It's distrust in Chinese gov , not in people or country

Is there any evidence that that the Chinese State, which owns 1% and operates 1 board seat of ByteDance, has been using TikTok to surveil anyone?

The same concerns often not leveraged against US social networks who actually have a history of spying on their users. [0]

[0] - https://www.cbs17.com/news/investigators/facebook-settles-la...

An ally does not destroys pipelines. US is an ally as long as it makes a profit.