To join the popular Clubhouse app - where you can participate or listen to various public conversations - an invitation from a user is required.

But to be able to invite someone, you must first make your entire address book available to the company behind the app.

During the spring, the American app Clubhouse has grown significantly in Sweden and Europe.

At the same time, there has been a discussion about the app's security and whether it violates the GDPR.

In February, a German computer authority issued a warning if data protection was not established.

SVT urges employees to "exercise great caution"

SVT now urges its employees to review the installation of the app on work phones, and to "exercise great caution regarding information that is dealt with at Clubhouse."

Since the app collects potentially sensitive information, SVT's journalists should not make their contact list available and clear the phone of sensitive contacts and potential sources.

Even if SVT allows use for the time being, it considers Clubhouse to be "a high-risk app".

- We see several security risks.

The ability to share the contact book is a problem.

Another significant risk is that the conversations are recorded and that the speaker has no control over how the recording is used, says Peter de Verdier, CFO and head of SVT Security.

At the same time, de Verdier believes that many discussions about relevant and exciting issues take place at Clubhouse.

- To enable participation in these discussions, SVT has decided to allow Clubhouse provided that several protective measures have been taken.

SR follows developments

Swedish Radio also now urges its employees not to share an address book or other sensitive information with the app, and that all conversations inside the Clubhouse should be considered public.

However, it is still allowed to use the program.

How journalists should handle security in popular apps and programs has been a growing discussion in recent times.

As Kulturnyheterna previously reported, both SVT and SR have banned the social media app Tiktok, as it is considered a security risk.