TikTok to be banned in Australia? Legislators state app being 'used & abused' by China

Following the ban in India, Australia is also considering a ban on the TikTok app by Chinese developers over security concerns. Several Australian legislators have expressed their concern over privacy issues and a possibility of the Chinese government having access to users' data. However, TikTok has constantly refuted such allegations pertaining to the Chinese government's access to the app user data. 

According to a report in South China Morning Post, Australia's Liberal Senator Jim Molan has remarked that TikTok is being 'used and abused' by the Chinese government. Labor Senator Jenny McAllister has reportedly demanded the app's representatives to face the Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media. The move comes even as the United States' have expressed their intent to consider a possible ban on TikTok.

READ | TikTok Clarifies It Has 'no Plan' To Pursue Legal Action Against Govt, Issues Statement

'To protect the privacy of Americans'

Earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that the consideration of a ban on TikTok was a part of the constant evaluation to ensure the privacy of American citizens. He clarified that his comments on TikTok were in the context of evaluating the threat of the Chinese Communist Party. Pompeo asserted that the Trump administration shall take steps to prevent the CCP from accessing private information belonging to Americans. Maintaining that is a project of real scale, he affirmed that the communications infrastructure must be based on the Western ideal of private property. 

READ | Govt Of India Bans 59 Chinese Apps; Tik Tok, UC Browser, WeChat Included In The List

TikTok suffers $6 billion loss after India ban

Beijing-based ByteDance - parent company of TikTok - have predicted a loss of around $6 billion post the ban on TikTok in India, as per GlobalTimes. At the time that TikTok was taken down, it had approximately 370 million users on the Play Store, with a large majority of those coming from India. In its statement post its ban, TikTok claimed to have democratised the Indian Internet, by making its app available in 14 Indian languages, and the high value of loss estimated by the Chinese mouthpiece is a clear indicator of how important a market India is for TikTok.

On June 29, the Indian Home Ministry banned 59 Chinese Apps including TikTok. The Centre stated that it has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about the misuse of these apps for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India. 

READ | 'Seriously Concerned & Firmly Opposed': Chinese Embassy In India Responds To Apps Ban

READ | On Possibility Of TikTok Ban, Pompeo Cites National Security; Says 'evaluating CCP Threat'