AUSTRALIA BANS TIKTOK ON GOVERNMENT DEVICES
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* Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus gave a mandatory direction to Commonwealth departments to ban social media app TikTok from government devices.
* The direction will come into effect as soon as practicable and exemptions will only be granted on a case-by-case basis.
* It follows advice from national security and intelligence agencies
* Concerns relate to the potential for TikTok data to be harvested and accessed by the Chinese government under national laws that can compel companies to hand over information
* Australia's ban follows several nations which have already stopped the app from being used on government devices
* European Commission and European Parliament banned TikTok on staff phones
* New Zealand banned use of the app on devices with access to the parliamentary network
* India banned TikTok and many other Chinese apps in June 2020
* Belgium imposed a ban in March on government employees using TikTok on work phones
* Canada banned TikTok on government-issued devices due to security risks
* In the United States, 25 individual states banned government staff from using the app on their work devices
* US Congress passed a bill in December 2022 to ban TikTok on government devices
KEY QUOTES IN RESPONSE TO THE BAN
"The Albanese government's decision to finally ban TikTok from all Commonwealth-issued devices is welcome. In doing so we are following our closest allies and friends including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, the European Union ... who have already acted to protect their government users from the national security risks posed by the app."
- Opposition security spokesman James Paterson
"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."
- Greens senator David Shoebridge
"We are extremely disappointed by this decision, which, in our view, is driven by politics, not by fact. 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."
"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."
- Lee Hunter, general manager, TikTok Australia and New Zealand
Australian Associated Press
