Daniel Andrews rejects ban of TikTok on government phones until further notice

The Premier has given an update on whether public servants will be forced to delete TikTok from government phones.

Daniel Andrews won’t force public servants to delete TikTok from government phones amid cyber security fears.

The Premier said he would wait on federal government advice before determining whether the Victorian government would take such action.

It comes after staff within the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action were earlier this year told to remove the Chinese-owned app from work phones because of security concerns.

But Mr Andrews said that order was issued by a “relatively junior member of staff” who had acted without authority to issue the email.

Daniel Andrews is waiting on federal government advice on TikTok. Picture: Nicki Connolly

There are cyber security fears over public servants having TikTok on government phones. Picture: Tim Pascoe

“They had no authority to make that change whatsoever,” he said.

“The reason that decision never proceeded was that it was very unclear that any kind of authority or process had been gone through in order to provide that advice.

“Somebody had acted without any authority whatsoever.”

Mr Andrews said he was unaware if the staff member remained in the job.

But he said there was currently no change of advice for staff.

“I think the best thing to do is wait and see what the Commonwealth government’s national policy settings are,” he said.

“They’re in charge of national security and these other kind of related issues.”