China has accused the US of overreacting after federal employees were ordered to remove the video app TikTok from government-issued phones.

On Monday, the White House gave government agencies 30 days to ensure that employees did not have the Chinese-owned app on federal devices.

The order follows similar moves by the EU and Canada in recent weeks.

A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry however accused the US of abusing state power to suppress foreign firms.

TikTok has faced allegations that it harvests users’ data and hands it to the Chinese government.

The company however insists it operates no differently to other social media companies and says it would never comply with an order to transfer data.