Australia Bans TikTok on Government Owned Devices

This decision follows after a series of similar decisions taken by countries such as the USA, Canada and UK

The Australian government in a recent announcement said that it is soon removing Chinese-owned video app ‘TikTok’ from all government owned devices, stating that this decision is being taken due to security and privacy concerns.

Following this announcement Australia added its name into a list of countries that took similar notices and banned TikTok on government-owned devices. Countries such as the USA, Canada and UK, all ordered their federal agencies to remove TikTok from their devices, while also banning the video app on those government owned devices.

Concerns raised by these governments began when it was identified that the Chinese government owns a substantial share in TikTok owner ‘ByteDance’, thus it was suspected that the Chinese government can easily use the application to spy on these countries making the application a possible threat to national security.

TikTok, up until now has denied all claims of security concerns, saying that it does not retrieve or use its data for any illicit purpose such as spying.

Talking about the TikTok ban in Australia, the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said that the TikTok ban will come into effect “as soon as practicable”.

Replying to news circulations about the TikTok ban in Australia, Tiktok Australia’s general manager Lee Hunter said that he felt disappointed despite “repeated offers to engage with government constructively about this policy.”

“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,” he added.

Apart from the USA, Canada, UK and Australia, countries including New Zealand, France, Belgium and the European Commission have also banned TikTok on government devices.