On Tuesday, the Australian government announced that it will be banning TikTok on all government-issued devices due to security concerns about the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.
The order, according to Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, will be implemented as soon as possible, and exemptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis.
“After receiving advice from intelligence and security agencies, today I authorized the Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department to issue a mandatory direction under the Protective Security Policy Framework to prohibit the TikTok app on devices issued by Commonwealth departments and agencies,” he said. “The direction will come into effect as soon as practicable.”
However, it is unclear what criteria will be used to determine those exemptions.
The Five Eyes intelligence group, comprising the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Britain, and Australia, have all banned TikTok on government-issued devices, The Daily Caller notes.
Similarly, the European Parliament, European Commission, and the E.U. Council have also announced similar bans.
TikTok’s General Manager in Australia, Lee Hunter, has defended the app, saying there is no evidence to suggest it poses a security risk to Australians.
Concerns over national security threats have been raised by lawmakers in the United States due to TikTok’s state-owned Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and its alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before Congress in March, stating that the CCP has never accessed data from U.S. users, Daily Caller notes.
He also said the app is currently working on transferring all U.S. user data to a Texas-based server, to ensure that it is out of the Chinese state’s reach.
India has also banned TikTok and other Chinese-based apps over security concerns.
According to the BBC, dozens of apps, including WeChat, were banned in India.
The Biden administration has also instructed government staffers to delete TikTok from all federally issued mobile devices within 30 days, as reported by CBS News.
More than half of the states in the U.S., as well as the armed forces, have banned the app on state devices, according to Insider.
Additionally, some state schools have blocked students from accessing the app on campus wifi networks.
