Australia bans TikTok on all government devices over spying concern

The Australian government on Monday banned the Chinese video app TikTok on all government devices over fears that the platform is being used to spy on officials. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on April 3 signed the law on the ban after a thorough security review was conducted by the Department of Home Affairs, The Australian reported. Chinese app owned by the parent company ByteDance will no longer be installed on the phones, computers or any devices that are used by politicians and public servants in Canberra. ByteDance, the firm which owns TikTok, has denied allegations of espionage. 

Decision 'driven by politics, not facts': ByteDance

Australia has become just another country that joined the growing list of countries to ban TikTok from government-issued devices including the US and the UK. Australian state and territory government officials have received a briefing about the federal ban, the paper reported, adding that they are expected to adhere to the rules. An official announcement about the ban will be made as early as Tuesday.

Responding to the restriction, the general manager of TikTok Australia and New Zealand, Lee Hunter, expressed disappointment. "[The decision] is driven by politics, not by fact," he was quoted as saying. "We are also disappointed that TikTok, and the millions of Australians who use it, were left to learn of this decision through the media, despite our repeated offers to engage with government constructively about this policy," Hunter stressed. 

"Again, we stress that 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," general manager of TikTok Australia continued to add. 

Last week, the British government also announced the ban on TikTok from mobile phones of the country's ministers and civil servants. The move was in line with the European Commission and the United States' decision. Ties between London and Beijing have worsened in recent years, and the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak led administration iterated that the ban would take effect "immediately".

In the United States, the TikTok parent firm, ByteDance, is being forced to sell the app to an American corporation or face indefinite suspension of license. In a similar move, New Zealand lawmakers also announced that they would be banning the staff in the nation's Parliament from having the TikTok app on their phones over national security concerns. The decision was taken after the FBI and other US law enforcement agencies warned that TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance is involved in the data sharing including the browsing history, location and biometric identifiers with China’s authoritarian government of Xi Jinping.