John Paul M. Joaquin Tech 04.04.2023 05:Apr AM EDT

Australia Joins Worldwide TikTok Ban Over Security Concerns

New Zealand's neighbor has joined the growing worldwide push to ban TikTok.

Australia's government recently announced it is banning the popular China-based video-sharing app from Commonwealth government devices as soon as practicable due to national security concerns.

Australia's inclusion in the worldwide push to ban TikTok from its government devices makes it the latest country to do so.

Australia's TikTok Ban Details

Australia Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus mentioned in its announcement that the Australian government would soon require all government offices to prohibit the use of TikTok on government-issued phones, while its employees must uninstall the app from such devices as soon as practicable.

The Australian government also added a new directive to its Protective Security Policy Framework, which states that TikTok poses a security threat because of its data collection practices, citing advice from the country's lead protective security entities.

While there are exceptions to the ban due to some government activities that require the use of TikTok, the directive is that the Chief Security Office of every government office must approve any legitimate business reason for using TikTok on government devices. They must also ensure that certain mitigations are in place to manage the security risks of installing such an app on a government device.

Many of these mitigations limit the information TikTok collects, such as installing the app on a device that doesn't process or have access to official or classified information and that the device is stored, secured, and placed at a certain distance when not in use to prevent it from listening in to sensitive conversations and information.

Additionally, only authorized government employees would be allowed to access corporate TikTok accounts; it would be revoked immediately when there is no longer a requirement for such access.

Finally, the government demands that the app would be uninstalled from the device it was on when no longer needed despite the mitigations made.

Nevertheless, Australia's ban on TikTok risks the renewal of diplomatic tensions between Australia and China; TikTok Australia general manager Lee Hunter already condemns it, with him calling it "driven by politics, not by fact."

You may remember that China previously unofficially banned the buying of Australian coal following a slew of political and public health matters, per Reuters.

The Rising Global Action Against TikTok

Australia's banning of TikTok from its government devices makes it the latest country to do so after New Zealand's entry into the global push to do the same. According to Al Jazeera, Australia's move makes it the last of the "Five Eyes" intelligence partners to introduce such restrictions.

There are good reasons why governments worldwide are banning TikTok from their devices. Among them is that TikTok employees were previously found to be capable of accessing data of American journalists, including their IP addresses.

Additionally, China could require firms to provide personal data to the state if it is relevant to national security, thanks to a law the Chinese government enacted in 2017, per Deutsche Welle. This law means that the Chinese government could ask TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to provide it with the personal data it collected from government employees, allowing it to get an idea of what's happening behind the proverbial closed door.