Emilie Enger Mehl, Minister for Justice and Public Security, finally admitted on Wednesday last week that she had installed the controversial video app, following more than a month of stalling on the issue. 

“Ever since questions were asked about this the first time, I have tried to answer both the parliament and the media as openly and honestly as I think is sensible about my TikTok use,” she told the broadcaster TV2.

“But now there is so much speculation, which I feel goes beyond what is warranted, I would like to clarify that I had TikTok on my non-secure work phone from the end of August until one of the first days of October.” 

Mehl has faced sharp criticism in recent days for the evasive answers she has given in parliament over her use of the app, which some security experts suspect may be used by the Chinese government for intelligence services. 

But the leader of the Norwegian parliament’s Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs committee, Peter Frølich, said he did not feel it was necessary to hold a formal hearing. 

“The control committee is spending time on big and serious matters now,” he said. “The Minister of Justice’s use of TikTok has been admitted and corrected, and that should be enough.” 

Several opposition politicians have criticised Mehl for failing to come clean earlier. 

“The mistake she has made is trying to mislead the Storting,” Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, told NRK last week.

Audun Jøsang, Professor of cyber security at the University of Oslo, said that it was “absolutely problematic” that Mehl had had the app on her phone. 

“Many people use the same device for private and work life, but people in important positions really do need to differentiate between them,” he told VG. “We may not suspect Facebook of spying on Norwegian citizens for strategic reasons. But it is plausible that a Chinese player like TikTok does it, because Chinese businesses have a duty to assist the state.”