TikTok: Australia in turn bans the social network to members of the government

2023-04-04T06:30:17.785Z

Australia announced on Tuesday, April 4, that it would ban members of its government from using the Chinese application TikTok on their work devices. Canberra joins several...TikTok: Australia in turn bans the social network to members of the government The TikTok app is in the sights of the Australian government. REUTERS - DADO RUVIC Text by: RFI Follow 2 min Australia announced on Tuesday, April 4, that it would ban members of its government from using the Chinese application TikTok on their work devices. Canberra joins several other Western countries, including Cana

TikTok: Australia in turn bans the social network to members of the government

The TikTok app is in the sights of the Australian government. REUTERS - DADO RUVIC

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

Australia announced on Tuesday, April 4, that it would ban members of its government from using the Chinese application TikTok on their work devices. Canberra joins several other Western countries, including Canada, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom, due to security concerns.

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This decision was taken on the advice of the Australian intelligence services, and will be put into practice "as soon as possible", said the Minister of Justice, Mark Dreyfus.

Australia is the latest country in the so-called Five Eyes alliance [the "five eyes" are the four English-speaking democracies allied with the United States: Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom] to ban TikTok from members of its government, after the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand. Similar measures have been taken in France, the Netherlands and the European Commission.

Decisions described as "anti-China" by the Beijing authorities. According to the TikTok network, these bans are "rooted in xenophobia", before admitting last December to having collected personal data to spy on journalists.

TikTok is a subsidiary of the Chinese group ByteDance. It offers Chinese users a similar application, but distinct from the one intended for international use. The company's boss, Shou Chew, was heard by the US Congress at the end of March. He acknowledged that the platform still had old US user data stored on servers accessible by Chinese employees.

At the center of the fears of Western countries, a Chinese law of 2017 that requires local companies to hand over at the request of the authorities personal data that would fall under national security. 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 expand their presence on TikTok to reach a younger audience.

► Read also: "On TikTok, the user gives the reins to the algorithm

Earlier this year, the Australian government also announced that it would remove Chinese-made CCTV cameras from politicians' offices, also for security reasons.

► Read also: Tik Tok, a social network even more dangerous than Facebook, Instagram or Twitter?

TikTok: Australia in turn bans the social network to members of the government

TikTok: Australia in turn bans the social network to members of the government

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