Australian authorities have banned the Chinese-owned social network TikTok on all government-owned devices amid growing security concerns and fears that the nation’s official information may fall into the wrong hands.
The ban, announced on Tuesday, will be effective “as soon as practicable,” according to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who added that rare exemptions would only be authorised on a “case-by-case basis” with “appropriate security mitigations in place.”
Australia was the last of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance’s five nations to ban TikTok on government-owned devices after the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand previously issued similar orders.
Countries like the European Commission, France and the Netherlands also banned the social network on official devices in their nations.
Lee Hunter, general manager of TikTok operations in New Zealand and Australia, said there was no proof that the social network was leaking users’ vital information to the Chinese government.
“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,” said Mr Hunter in a statement.
Last month, the company’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, testified before the U.S. Congress that TikTok was not sharing users’ data with the Chinese government.
