TikTok shock: ‘You can cough up your sources to the Chinese government in a heartbeat’

Reporters are being warned to reconsider their use of the Chinese-owned app TikTok as cybersecurity concerns around the social media platform amplify.

A growing number of governments are banning employees from using the TikTok app. Picture: Tim Pascoe

Journalists risk putting their confidential sources and contacts in jeopardy by using TikTok on their devices and should think twice about using the Chinese-owned video app, experts say.

In recent weeks, concerns have heightened around the world over the use of the app on government-issued devices, prompting administrations in the UK, US and New Zealand to intervene and ban employees from using it.

Cyber safety expert Susan McLean told The Australian that TikTok was “one of the worst platforms for harvesting data”, saying it allowed a user’s information to be “sent back to China”.

She said journalists should not use the platform – which has more than one billion users – because it put their sources at great risk.

“TikTok has been proven to collect more data than other platforms and despite what they will tell you, the information goes back to China,” Ms McLean said.

“If most people stopped and thought about that, they would think that’s not OK.

“It does my head in because they are playing into the hands of Chinese propaganda.”

TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, has been accused of pushing Chinese propaganda to unsuspecting users.

A US Senate hearing this month heard that one third of Americans got their news from TikTok each day, and FBI director Christopher Wray warned of the dangers its posed to users.

He said it controlled algorithms and its software allowed intimate access to a user’s devices.

“Its control of the software … gives them access to millions of devices,” Mr Wray said.

“All you have got to do is look at the fact that the Chinese government has the biggest hacking program in the world – bigger than that of every other major nation combined.”

Ms McLean said that it was only a matter of time before employers, including media organisations, banned employees from using TikTok.

“I can see the day where workplaces prohibit workers from using TikTok on any device because of the safety and security concerns,” she said.

Many Australian media outlets use the platform to post short videos but do not necessarily have strict policies in place around its use.

Local news sites with large TikTok audiences include news.com.au with 1.3 million followers, The Australian (617,600 followers), The Guardian Australia (238,600 followers) and The Daily Telegraph (187,900 followers).

Major media outlets – including Seven and Nine Entertainment – were asked about their respective TikTok guidelines for staff but neither company would be drawn on their in-house rules for the platform.

A Nine spokesman would only say: “Nine has well-defined social media policies for our staff.”

Former communications minister Stephen Conroy, who held the portfolio from 2007 to 2013, said journalists should be on high alert if they were using TikTok on any of their devices including phones, tablets and laptops.

“You can go to great lengths to avoid not wanting the Australian government to know who your sources are but you can cough it up to the Chinese government in a heartbeat,” the former Labor senator said.

Mr Conroy said journalists could be putting sources “in jeopardy” by not taking proper precautions and that putting TikTok on other devices than their main mobile phone was insufficient.

“Mobiles are connected to your iPad, and everything is in the cloud, so it’s not just a mobile phone,” he said.

“Wherever you store information, it’s all in the cloud.

“Journalists shouldn’t have TikTok near any device that has information that they are trying to keep secret.”

Opposition cybersecurity spokesman James Paterson, the chairman of the Select Committee on Foreign Interference Through Social Media, said TikTok was a “great risk for journalists” and that media organisations must implement policies on its use.

“If they absolutely have to be on it it, it should be on a separate device to their main phone,” he said.

“Journalists need to put in measures to protect their sources because we know TikTok has used it to get their sources before.”

However, TikTok general manager in Australia and New Zealand Lee Hunter said the app was “not unique in the amount of information it collects”.

“Journalists, just like all our users, can be confident their data is as safe with us as it is with other popular apps,” he said. “There is zero evidence to suggest that Australian user data, including that of journalists, is in any way at risk with TikTok.

“It is disappointing that these types of false claims continue to be made against us, apparently because of our country of origin.”

The Albanese government is undertaking a review to determine the cybersecurity implications of apps, including TikTok.

Recent reports also state that the US Justice Department is investigating ByteDance for spying on citizens, including journalists.

Forbes reporter Emily Baker-White said she was among the journalists who had their TikTok data inappropriately accessed.