TikTok under scrutiny in Australia over issues of data breach, user privacy

Popular Chinese video app TikTok has been put under scrutiny in Australia after cyber experts raised issues of data breach, user privacy, and foreign intervention, a news agency reported.  Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement that his government was taking a “good look” at the Chinese app owned by Bytedance that has also come under US’ radar over security concerns such as data harvesting using AI.

If Australia would feel that there’s a need to take strict actions than the country is taking now, then the administration won't be shy about it, Morrison said on-air in a radio address in Melbourne. While the app flaunts over 800 million users worldwide, a ban on TikTok in Australia could be possible say experts, over the company's potential ties with China. The west now fears risks of geopolitical surveillance amid a thawing of bilateral relations with China, as earlier, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Donald Trump administration was considering banning the Chinese app over security concerns.  

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Government announced that it was examining the safety of the Chinese app citing “perceived risk” after the British government banned Huawei's 5G network. Noting the unsafe security risks associated with the Chinese companies, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lauded UK’s decision and said the US would curb travel access for some of Huawei's workers at a press conference.

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Australian Labor Senator voices concern

Moreover, Australian Labor Senator Jenny McAllister, the chairwoman of a parliamentary inquiry into foreign interference through social media, sounded concerns about the data privacy of 1.6 million Australian users and demanded scrutiny into the app's usage, as per a local report. Speaking with a local radio station, McAllister said that TikTok content might be inconsistent with Australian values. She hinted at the company’s move to control the material related to Tiananmen Square and Hong Kong protests.  

TikTok Australia's general manager Lee Hunter accused the Chinese company, saying, the company was "being used as a political football", according to a report. Hunter wrote an immediate letter to the government, explaining, TikTok wasn’t aligned to any government, political party, or ideology. As of July 20, the Trump campaign started running ads on Facebook to sign a petition calling for a ban on TikTok. Further, in a drastic move, India banned TikTok along with 59 other Chinese apps over-identified data breach and surveillance issues. 

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