The Australian government has reportedly prohibited the use of the Chinese social networking site TikTok on government-owned smartphones, pursuing similar restrictions in other western nations.
Attorney general Mark Dreyfus claimed that he had given the secretary of his unit the go-ahead to issue a regulation that forbade the TikTok application from being used on devices provided by Commonwealth agencies and departments.
As per the protective security regulation announced along with the ban, the government claims TikTok poses substantial privacy and security risks to non-corporate Commonwealth agencies emerging from significant user data gathering as well as exposure to extrajudicial points from a foreign administration that dispute Australian law.
The government got a report last month from the Department of Home Affairs on the security issues of all social networking platforms and the appropriate government policies.
TikTok is already prohibited on government-owned devices in more than half of all federal departments, but the overall policy will ensure uniformity within the government.
On Monday, the territories and states were informed of the impending ban.
A spokesperson for the Victorian government claimed the state will work on imposing the new limitations on TikTok use, and a representative for the New South Wales government stated Cyber Security NSW will continue talks with the federal government on the latest position.
According to Lee Hunter, general manager of TikTok in New Zealand and Australia, the firm was unaware of the intended ban before it was leaked to the press. In a statement, Hunter expressed TikTok's disappointment at the move, which the business claimed was influenced by politics, not facts.
James Paterson, the shadow cybersecurity minister claimed the administration has been very late in enforcing the restriction on government devices.
The federal opposition had long urged the administration to act, even after the Coalition's failure to do so while it was in power just under a year ago. Paterson stated that the majority of the revelations regarding TikTok security issues and ensuing government device limitations by nations such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand only happened in the last few months.