TikTok won’t be banned in Australia despite security concerns
Chinese-owned video platform TikTok will not be banned in Australia despite growing concerns among experts that user data was accessible to Beijing — but the government is still looking at how to manage privacy risk presented by the controversial app.
Victoria
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Chinese-owned video platform TikTok will not be banned by Australia after it was deemed not to pose serious national security threats, despite concerns some user data was accessible to Beijing.
But the government is still looking at how to manage serious concerns over the security and privacy risks presented by the platform and others including WeChat.
Scott Morrison on Wednesday told the Aspen Security Forum a ban was off the cards for now.
“There’s nothing at this point that would suggest to us that security interests are being compromised, or Australian citizens are being compromised,” the Prime Minister said.
“We’ll obviously keep watching them, but there’s no evidence to suggest to us today that [a ban] is a step that is necessary.”
TikTok, along with Facebook, Twitter and Google, has been called to give evidence at the Senate’s Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media.
The inquiry is looking at the use of social media for purposes of undermining Australian democracy and values, including through misinformation.
Last month, the Mr Morrison said the federal government was looking at the app “very closely” at and multiple agencies were trying to work out whether it posed a security threat.
The investigation was launched after the Herald Sun revealed there was growing concern among federal MPs about the way the app “hoovered up” data from users.
The controversial app has already been banned in India and the Trump Administration has threatened to do the same in the US.
TikTok’s parent company Byte Dance has been given until September 15 by a US government panel to sell the app’s US operations to Microsoft.
Rolled into the same deal could be TikTok’s Australian and Canadian arms also sold to the US tech giant.
President Donald Trump believed his government should be handed a “substantial portion” of the sale price.
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