Is TikTok Really Banned in Australia?

Australia announced Tuesday that it will ban the TikTok app, owned by Chinese group ByteDance, on government devices. Due to security concerns, joining the list of Western countries that adopted the same measure.

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said the decision follows the advice of the country’s intelligence agencies and will be implemented “as soon as feasible”. Previously, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and the European Commission had taken similar decisions.

Dreyfus explained that the government would approve some exceptions “on a case-by-case basis” but put in place measures to mitigate security risks. Cybersecurity experts warn that the app, with more than 1 billion users, can be used to collect data that is then shared with Chinese authorities.

Beijing Had Officially Complained to Australian Authorities

“We call on the Australian side to sincerely respect the rules of market economy and the principles of fair competition, and provide Chinese enterprises with a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment,”

Mao Ning, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, told reporters.

Surveys estimate that up to seven million Australians use the app, accounting for a quarter of the population. The Australian attorney general’s department said TikTok poses “significant security and privacy risks” due to the “extensive collection of user data”.

The Australian attorney general’s department claimed that TikTok poses “significant security and privacy risks” due to the “extensive collection of user data”. Earlier this year, the Australian government also announced it was dispensing hundreds of Chinese-produced security cameras from politicians’ offices due to security concerns.

The fears are underpinned by a 2017 Chinese law that requires local companies to hand over personal data to authorities upon request that relates to national security issues.

British fine TikTok $15.9 million for using children’s data

Chinese social network TikTok was fined £12.7 million ($15.9 million) on Tuesday by the British digital regulator, the ICO, for “unlawful” use of children’s data, according to a statement.

The ICO‘s investigation revealed that TikTok did not conduct “adequate checks to identify and close children’s accounts”. Who were not old enough to use its platform.

Some managers had raised internal concerns about this the specific statement that TikTok allowed up to 1.4 million children under the age of 13 in the UK to open an account on its platform in 2020. This is contrary to its official rules, and notes the use of their data without parental consent.

The ICO’s investigation revealed that TikTok had failed to conduct “adequate checks to identify and terminate the accounts of children” who were not old enough to use its platform. Even though some managers had raised internal concerns about this, the statement details.

The White House, the European Commission, and the Canadian, British, and Australian governments recently banned their officials from using TikTok on their business phones. The Norwegian Parliament did the same last week, as did the Swedish military.

More to Know…

The Australian government has banned this Tuesday, April 4, during local hours, the installation of the TikTok application on phones and other devices linked to the public administration. In line with decisions already taken in recent months by the US Administration or the European Commission.

The Australian Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, explained that the ban will come into force “as soon as possible” and exemptions will be granted on a case-by-case basis, as reported by the Australian ABC.

“After receiving advice from intelligence and security agencies, I have today authorized the secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department to issue a mandatory order under the Protective Security Policy Framework,”

he said.

Australia has thus become the latest country in the ‘Five Eyes‘ intelligence alliance (FVEY), also comprising Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to block the app.

Fears have grown in the West about the possible use of TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, as a Trojan horse to promote pro-Chinese propaganda or collect user data. But Beijing has denounced that behind this cascade of vetoes lies political intentionality without any real technological justification.

In December, the social network made a change to its privacy policy, giving Chinese employees access to European user data, although it is unclear exactly what data these employees have access to and which employees are involved.

France bans the use of the social network by public state employees

France decided to ban the use of the social network on the phones of its government officials. It is precisely a matter of not allowing the installation and use of “leisure” applications such as the social network TikTok or the US platform Netflix on the phones of professionals of 2.5 million civil servants of the State.

These applications present “risks in terms of cybersecurity and data protection for civil servants and the administration”, considered sources close to the French Minister for the Civil Service, Stanislas Guerini.

This measure follows in the footsteps of several Western institutions and governments that have banned or limited the use of TikTok on professional devices, for fear of espionage problems.

Last Thursday, the UK Parliament also agreed to ban the Chinese app TikTok on all official devices linked to both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. In line with the decision already taken last week by the British Government.

The social network will be “blocked” on MPs’ devices. This according to a spokesman for the institution who stressed that “cybersecurity is a priority”, without going into further details on the specific reasons for this measure, reports Sky News.

Thus, legislators who want to access TikTok must do so from personal devices that are not connected to Parliament’s Internet network.

At the end of February, Canada followed suit by banning its civil servants from using the well-known video application.

“This decision has been taken by Canada’s Chief Information Systems Officer to ensure the security and protection of government information systems and networks,”

the government explained in the report.