TikTok ban Australia

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced the ban on Tuesday after receiving advice from intelligence and security agencies, saying the directive would be imposed ...

For its part, China’s Commerce Ministry said it would “firmly oppose” any decision resulting in the forced sale of TikTok, adding that it would “seriously damage” global investors’ confidence in the United States. A notice issued by the Attorney General’s Department said TikTok poses security and privacy risks due to the “extensive collection of user data and exposure to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government that conflict with Australian law.” Chew has said the Chinese government had never asked TikTok for its data and that the company would refuse any such request. [US](https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/28/politics/tiktok-federal-device-ban-guidance/index.html), [Britain ](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/tech/uk-tiktok-government-device-ban/index.html)and [Canada ](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/27/tech/canada-bans-tiktok-government-devices/index.html)have already announced similar restrictions, while [New Zealand’s parliament](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/17/tech/new-zealand-to-ban-tiktok-at-parliament-intl-hnk/index.html) also ordered the app be removed from all devices with access to the legislature. [European Parliament](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/28/tech/tiktok-eu-ban-intl-hnk/index.html) have made similar moves, and last week [NATO](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/31/tech/nato-tiktok-ban/index.html) banned staffers from downloading the app onto NATO-provided devices, according to two NATO officials familiar with the matter. Lee Hunter, general manager of TikTok in Australia and New Zealand, said the company is “extremely disappointed by this decision, which, in our view, is driven by politics.”

The Australian government has banned the use of Chinese social media app TikTok on government devices, following similar bans in other western countries.

“If we’re not careful it will just be the first hammer blow in an endless game of online whack-a-mole,” he said. “It’s good that it’s going to be banned from government devices because it removes that espionage risk to public servants,” he said. Paterson said most of the revelations around security concerns with TikTok and the subsequent government device bans by governments including the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand only occurred in the past few months. “Exemptions will only be granted on a case-by-case basis and with appropriate security mitigations in place.” Several MPs, including environment minister Tanya Plibersek and Labor MP Julian Hill, still use TikTok on nongovernment devices. TikTok was not informed about the proposed ban prior to it being leaked to media, the company’s Australia and New Zealand general manager Lee Hunter said.

Australian officials must delete viral video app TikTok from work devices following advice from intelligence and security agencies.

A number of government departments had already prohibited the app from work devices. Australia is the last of the Five Eyes partners to ban the app from public servants’ devices. “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,” Mr Hunter said.

Attorney-general Mark Dreyfus issued a directive to prohibit the Chinese-owned app on devices issued by Commonwealth departments and agencies.

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," Mr Hunter said in a statement. Exemptions will only be granted on a case-by-case basis and with appropriate security mitigations in place," Mr Dreyfus said. "The data security issues for TikTok are mirrored in pretty much every other social media platform - the difference is that our government is not running a fear campaign against the governments that host those platforms," he said. "Banning TikTok from government devices is a publicity stunt which masks the fact our data is being exploited by every corporation that can get its hands on it - social media platforms, health apps, the games our children play." "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." "The data privacy and security risks and also the foreign interference risks that affect millions of Australians who use the platform are so far not yet dealt with," he told Sky News.

Australia is the last of the "Five Eyes" security partners — the U.S., Canada, Britain and New Zealand — to ban the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok ...

states also have banned the app from official devices, as have Congress and the U.S. The ban applies only to government devices, though some U.S. More than half of the 50 U.S. India imposed a nationwide ban on TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps, including the messaging app WeChat, in 2020 over privacy and security concerns. Under the European Parliament's ban, which took effect last month, lawmakers and staff were also advised to remove the TikTok app from their personal devices. In early March, the U.S.

Canberra's announcement is the latest move to restrict the popular video-sharing app over alleged security risks.

Critics have argued the proposed ban may be incompatible with the free speech rights guaranteed by the US constitution and claimed such a move would be hypocritical given US tech companies’ poor record on privacy and the TikTok has denied claims that the app represents a security risk and insisted it has never and would never share data with the Chinese government. Australia will ban the use of TikTok on federal government devices over security concerns, joining a list of countries restricting the video-sharing app that includes the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

Australia, once a leader of COVID-19 inquiries, foreign interference legislation and a ban on Huawei, has fallen back in the peloton.

[Eryk Bagshaw](/by/eryk-bagshaw-hvf7y)is the North Asia correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via That is likely to be an intolerable kowtow to US demands for ByteDance and the Chinese government. If the US government moves on a blanket ban, will Australia follow? In 2019, internal guidelines revealed TikTok was censoring Tiananmen Square protests, Tibetan independence and the religious group Falun Gong. She is due to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday. TikTok has not done itself any favours.

Australia banned TikTok on Tuesday from all federal government-owned devices over security concerns, becoming the latest U.S.-allied country to take action ...

Congress last month, repeatedly denied the app shares data or has connections with the Chinese Communist Party. France, Belgium and the European Commission have announced similar bans. The ban comes on the day Australian and Chinese officials held talks in Beijing in a bid to normalise trade as the World Trade Organization prepares to release findings into an Australian complaint on barley tariffs. Register for free to Reuters and know the full story The Australian newspaper late on Monday reported Albanese had agreed to the ban after a review by the Home Affairs department. The ban will come into effect "as soon as practicable", Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said in a statement, adding that exemptions would only be granted on a case-by-case basis and with appropriate security measures in place.