TikTok is once again in the sights of a government. Australia announced on Tuesday that it would ban members of its executive from using the Chinese app on their work devices, joining a series of similar decisions in Western countries due to security fears.
This decision was taken on the advice of Australian intelligence services, and will be put into practice “as soon as possible”, said Minister of Justice Mark Dreyfus. The app is owned by Chinese group ByteDance, which has a similar but separate app for China.
TikTok acknowledges spying on journalists
Australia is the latest country in the so-called “Five Eyes” alliance to ban members of its government from TikTok, after the United States, Great Britain, Canada and New Zealand. Similar measures have been taken in France, the Netherlands and within the European Commission.
At the center of fears is a 2017 Chinese law that requires local companies to hand over personal data that would be relevant to national security upon request from the authorities. TikTok for its part declared that these bans were “rooted in xenophobia”, before admitting last December that it had collected personal data to spy on journalists.
The popularity of this short video sharing app has exploded in recent years, especially among young people. Many Australian government departments had previously sought to grow their presence on TikTok to reach younger audiences.
Earlier this year, the Australian government also announced that it would remove Chinese-made CCTV cameras from politicians’ offices, also for security reasons.
