Australia Bans TikTok on Government Devices Over Security Concerns: Chinese-Owned App ‘Extremely Disappointed’

TikTok is now banned on Australia's government devices over security concerns.

The new measure seeks to get rid of the Chinese-owned social media app on all federal government-owned devices in the country.

TikTok Ban on Australia's Gov't Devices

As per a report by Strait Times, Australia has decided to ban TikTok to some extent in the country after the intelligence agency in the country warned about possible risks of the Chinese-owned service.

The Home Affairs Department alerted against potential security risks over the Chinese-owned social network.

As such, the popular social media app, TikTok, is now banned on the devices that the Australian government owns.

Although Australia has already announced the ban, it has yet to completely take effect. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says that it will be in force "as soon as practicable."

He also notes that there might be some exemptions to the rule. However, it will solely be on a case-by-case basis. Not to mention that these cases will come with necessary security measures. After all, the ban is taking place over security concerns.

TikTok Ban Elsewhere

The ban on the popular social network in Australia is not the first instance that the Byte Dance-owned service faces such sanctions. In fact, multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand have also banned TikTok on their government devices.

On top of these countries, the European Commission, as well as France and Belgium, took the same measures before Australia did so.

With that, TikTok is now banned on various government-owned devices, including in Australia, the US, and the UK.

Despite that, CNN reports that no evidence has proven that the Chinese government is actually accessing the data of TikTok users. With that, the highly popular video-sharing app is still available on the personal devices of folks in the said countries.

So if you are from Australia, you may continue watching TikTok videos as long as you are using your own phone or tablet.

TikTok Expresses 'Extreme Disappointment'

The social media platform says that it is "extremely disappointed" that Australia has decided to ban TikTok on government-owned devices.

On top of that, the Byte Dance-owned service claims that the new measure is merely "driven by politics, not by fact."

The Australia and New Zealand General Manager of TikTok, Lee Hunter, addressed the recent ban in a statement. He says that "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."