Canberra, April 4 (BNA): Australia has become the latest of Five Eyes’ security partners to ban Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from federal government agencies.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfuss said in a statement on Tuesday that based on the advice of intelligence and security agencies, this ban will go into effect “as soon as practicable.”
And according to the Associated Press (AP), the so-called ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing partners – the United States, Canada, Britain and New Zealand – have taken similar steps.
TikTok is owned by Chinese tech company Bytedance and has long maintained that it does not share data with the Chinese government. It is carrying out a project to store US user data in Texas, which it says will put it more accessible to China.
The company also disputes accusations that it collects more user data than other social media companies, insisting it is run independently by its own management.
The European Parliament, European Commission and Council of the European Union, the three main institutions of the 27-member bloc, have also imposed a ban on TikTok on employee devices. Under the European Parliament’s ban, which took effect last month, lawmakers and employees were also advised to remove the TikTok app from their personal devices.
India imposed a nationwide ban on TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps, including messaging app WeChat, in 2020 over privacy and security concerns. The ban came shortly after a clash between Indian and Chinese forces on the disputed Himalayan border left 20 Indian soldiers dead and dozens injured.
In early March, the US gave government agencies 30 days to remove TikTok from federal devices and systems. The ban applies only to government agencies, though some US lawmakers are calling for an outright ban.
China has criticized the United States for banning TikTok, saying it is an abuse of state power and is cracking down on companies from other countries.
More than half of the 50 US states have also banned the app on official devices, as have Congress and the US Armed Forces.
HF