Australia has joined the ban on the use of TikTok on government devices

Australia forbidden to use the Chinese social network Tick ​​tock on government mobiles and devices for information security reasons and for fear of possible “foreign interference”, thus adding to the measures imposed by other countries in the rest of the world such as United States, Canada, United Kingdom and the Netherlandsamong others.

The Australian Attorney General, Marco Dreyfushe explained that the decision was made “after receiving advice from intelligence and security agencies” and announced the ban it will enter into force “as soon as practicable”.

Meanwhile, he clarified that exceptions will only be allowed to install this application “in certain cases and with appropriate security measures” for avoid any risk of data theft.

Likewise, it recommended that users and businesses “access recommendations” posted on a government portal.

People affected by the official ban will still be able to use the app on their personal devices, such as phones and computers.

Far from being an isolated decision, Australia’s ban lines up with that of other countries around the world. Without going any further, the Ocean Government is the latest in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance – made up of Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States– in blocking the application.

Cybersecurity experts warn that the application, with over 1 billion users, can be used collect data which is then shared with the Chinese authorities.

Is that last December the social network made a change to its privacy policy, which gave Chinese employees access to European user dataalthough it is unclear what data exactly these employees have access to and which employees are affected.

For his part, Australia has maintained tense relations with China since 2018after Australia’s previous conservative government vetoed Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from participating in the oceanic country’s 5G network.

As if that weren’t enough, last February the Australian government decided to remove nearly a thousand security cameras from its buildings manufactured by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua, linked to the Communist Party of China, at the risk of being used for espionage.

What is TikTok and what is the problem

TikTok is an application that allows you to make short videos with mobile devices with millions of views. The social network has become a favorite of many young who use it, as well as as a distraction, as information search tool on daily matters or to keep up with the latest news.

It was launched in September 2016 by the Chinese company bytedance with the name Douyin. According to company data, as of January 2023, the platform had a potential reach of 1.051 million users20.4% of Internet users over the age of 18 and their advertisements reached 13.1% of the world’s population.

As far as TikTok downloads are concerned, it has been growing year by year. In the first quarter of 2022, it recorded 176 million downloads. With this, it has accumulated more than 3,500 million downloads worldwide since its launch, according to the American company Sensor Tower.

But this success has been accompanied by the concerns of Western countries who fear that ByteDance may share the data of users of the social network with the Chinese government.

Something that is in contradiction with safety regulations, especially in Europe. Also, like other platforms, TikTok has also been accused offer content that may harm young people and adolescents.

IT​