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Australia banned TikTok from government devices, joining the list of countries that have banned the popular social media app on official devices over mounting security concerns.

The order was announced by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Tuesday (April 4, 2023) after receiving advice from intelligence and security agencies and will "come into effect as soon as practicable".

Exemptions may be granted on a case-to-case basis with appropriate security measures in place, Dreyfus said.

Joining alliance

Banning TikTok will put Australia in line with Five Eyes intelligence allies who have taken similar action against TikTok in recent months.

TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is based in Beijing, China and concerns have been raised over a national security law that compels companies to hand over to the Chinese government any personal data it deems relevant to national security.

While there has been no proven instance of ByteDance handing over such data to the Chinese government so far, there was alarm in Dec. 2022 when ByteDance confirmed it had fired employees who accessed the data of journalists while attempting to track down a leaked report about the company.

The U.S., UK, Canada, and New Zealand have ordered TikTok to be removed from all official devices, with many citing concerns over TikTok's data-collecting ability.

Other countries that have banned TikTok government technology include Taiwan, India, and France, AP News reported.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have also prevented their staff from downloading the app on NATO devices, CNN reported.

"Driven by politics"

In a statement, TikTok's Australia and New Zealand general manager Lee Hunter said the company was "extremely disappointed" by the decision which is "driven by politics", The Guardian reported.

“Our millions of Australian users deserve a government which makes decisions based upon facts and who treats all businesses fairly, regardless of country of origin,” he said.

He stressed there was "no evidence to suggest that TikTok is in any way a security risk to Australians".

In a separate interview with Sky News, Hunter revealed that TikTok's Australian data is stored in both Singapore and the U.S.

“We really clearly spell out what we collect and what we don’t collect and in Australia we don’t collect GPS information,” he said.

He added that data collected by TikTok is in line with industry standards, "just like all of these other platforms".

While understanding the basis of banning social media apps on government devices, Hunter expressed that the real issue was that TikTok is being "singled out unfairly".

Mounting security concerns

TikTok has taken the hot seat lately over security concerns.

Just last month, TikTok's Singaporean CEO Chew Shou Zi testified before the U.S. Congress for the first time to address scepticism and concerns among American politicians over the app's security issues.

It remains unclear whether legislation will be passed in the U.S. to ban TikTok in light of the hearing.

In Singapore, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group have said that TikTok is only allowed to be downloaded onto government-issued devices on a "need-to" basis.

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Top image via Solen Feyissa/Unsplash.