Australia bans TikTok on federal government devices

() — Australia has joined other Western countries in banning the use of TikTok on government devices as the Chinese-owned video app comes under increasing pressure over claims it poses a security issue.

Australia’s Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, announced the ban on Tuesday after receiving advice from intelligence and security services, saying the directive would be imposed “as soon as possible”.

The decision puts Australia in line with its Five Eyes intelligence alliance allies: the US, Britain and Canada have already announced similar restrictions, while New Zealand’s Parliament has also ordered the removal of the app from all devices. with access to the legislature.

Norway and the European Parliament have taken similar steps, and last week NATO banned their staff from downloading the app on Alliance-provided devices, according to two NATO officials familiar with the matter.

Lee Hunter, TikTok’s managing director in Australia and New Zealand, said the company is “extremely disappointed by this decision, which is, in our view, driven by politics.”

“Our millions of Australian users deserve a government that makes decisions based on facts and treats all businesses fairly, regardless of their country of origin,” he said.

He also stressed that the company had repeatedly contacted the Australian government for constructive dialogue, while maintaining that there was no evidence to suggest that the app posed a security risk to the country.

As of early 2023, Australia had 8.30 million users over the age of 18, according to the company.

So far, there is no evidence that the Chinese government has accessed TikTok user data, and no government has enacted a broader ban targeting TikTok on personal devices.

However, the Biden administration has threatened to do so in the United States unless the app’s Chinese owners, Bytedance, agree to spin off their share of the social media platform.

The US government is concerned that China could use its national security laws to access the vast amount of personal information that TikTok, like most social media apps, collects from its US users.

During a high-level congressional hearing on the matter, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was questioned about the tech company’s alleged ties to the Chinese government.

Chew has stated that the Chinese government has never asked TikTok for its data and that the company would reject any such request.

For its part, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would “strongly oppose” any decision involving the forced sale of TikTok, adding that it would “severely damage” global investor confidence in the United States.

Like some of the other countries that have put the brakes on, Australia’s attorney general said any exemptions would be granted “on a case-by-case basis and with appropriate security mitigation in place.”

Dreyfus also said that the government had recently received from the country’s Interior Ministry the study on foreign interference through social media applications, and its recommendations were being studied.