- Kyle Chua
Australia Joins US in Banning TikTok From All Government Devices
The Australian government is taking aim at TikTok, announcing a ban of the app from all federal government-owned devices.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Tuesday said the ban would be enforced "as soon as practicable". He also said that exemptions can be granted, though it'll be on a case-by-case basis and with appropriate security measures in place.
The ban underscores security concerns that the Chinese government can use the short-form video app, which is owned by the Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance, to harvest users' data and spread propaganda that would supposedly undermine Western interests.
Lawmakers and government employees can still use TikTok on their personal devices. The likes of federal Government Services Minister Bill Shorten and Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews, however, have decided to ditch the app altogether by deleting their accounts. Victoria state, in particular, also plans to ban the app on state government-owned devices, a spokesperson told Reuters.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to the ban after the completion of a review by the Home Affairs department. Dreyfus confirmed the federal government had received the report, titled "Review into Foreign Interference through Social Media Applications".
Australia is the last among the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network to ban the popular social media app from government devices. The group consists of Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and the U.S. Apart from these countries, France, Belgium and the European Commission have all implemented similar bans.
TikTok said it was "extremely disappointed" by the ban, and called it "driven by politics, not by fact". "There is no evidence to suggest that TikTok is in any way a security risk to Australians and should not be treated differently to other social media platforms," said TikTok Australia and New Zealand General Manager Lee Hunter.
TikTok has been facing criticism from a number of countries around the world. Last month, TikTok CEO Shou Zi faced U.S. lawmakers in Congress, answering their questions about the app's alleged connections to the Chinese government and its efforts to protect user data.
The Australian government is taking aim at TikTok, announcing a ban of the app from all federal government-owned devices.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the ban would be enforced "as soon as practicable".
The ban underscores security concerns that the Chinese government can use the short-form video app, which is owned by the Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance, to harvest users' data and spread propaganda that would supposedly undermine Western interests.