Calls to ban social media app TikTok over concerns it is harvesting data used by Beijing

A report warns the Chinese-owned social media platform harvests personal data that could be used by Beijing for spying and cyber hacking.

A cyber security report warns the ­Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok harvests vast and unnecessary amounts of personal data that could be used by Beijing for intelligence purposes and cyber hacking. Picture: Mario Tama/AFP

There are calls to ban the ­Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok in Australia, with a report warning that the video app harvests vast and unnecessary amounts of personal data that could be used by Beijing for intelligence purposes and cyber hacking.

The report, prepared by the joint Australian-US cyber security firm Internet 2.0, shows that the app is almost unique in the level of information it seeks from its unwitting billion-plus users worldwide.

This includes device mapping to monitor all other apps running on a user’s phone, hourly checks of their location, constant access to the user’s calendar, access to the user’s contacts and the ability to pinpoint detailed information about the specifications of the user’s phone.

The report’s authors note that much of the information being sought is not required to make the app work, raising questions as to why the data is being collected.

“The application can and will run successfully without any of this data being gathered,” the report states. “This leads us to believe that the only reason this information has been gathered is for data harvesting.

“It is also notable that the device only needs to ask the user for permission to perform each of these actions once and then follow the user’s preferences.

“In our analysis, the TikTok mobile application does not prioritise privacy.”

Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security Claire O’Neil said the federal government had received the Internet 2.0 report and previous governments “have been well aware of these issues for some years”.

She said more should have been done previously to address privacy concerns involving apps such as TikTok. “They are complex and difficult and don’t just relate to TikTok,” she said.

“The ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry asked the then-government to undertake work in this area three years ago, which they did not progress; that is ­regrettable.

“Australians need to be mindful of the fact that they are sharing a lot of detailed information about themselves with apps which aren’t properly protecting that information. I hope it concerns Australians because it certainly concerns me.”

TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance and its inventor, Zhang Yiming, has a personal wealth estimated at more than $40bn, much it fuelled by the runway success of TikTok, which had been downloaded 3.5 billion times worldwide as of January.

The findings in this report reflect similar concerns identified by Internet 2.0 about the private data being collected via the WeChat app, also owned by China.

Tom Kenyon. Picture: AAP Image/Ben Macmahon

Internet 2.0 director, former SA trade and innovation minister Tom Kenyon, said the findings about TikTok showed it was wrong for people to regard the app as nothing other than harmless fun. “It’s time to recognise the role Chinese tech apps are playing in data collection for the Chinese Communist Party and its security agencies,” he said.

“TikTok collects far more data from users than it needs to. The only logical conclusion is that it is data harvesting.

“WeChat has shown it too plays its role in data collection and propaganda dissemination. WeChat has been used by political candidates to reach voters of Chinese descent in Australia and it is possible the Chinese government has been involved in that.”

Mr Kenyon said the close relationship between Chinese companies and the Chinese government meant Australia needed to act against both the TikTok and WeChat apps.

Opposition cyber security spokesman Senator James Paterson urged the Albanese government to act on the report.

The Internet 2.0 report is set to make international headlines and will be presented to the US Senate hearing on TikTok on Monday.

The US Senate has been examining the app’s links to the Chinese government amid rising alarm in the West over cyber attacks and the use of personal data.

In a bipartisan move against TikTok’s parent company, Democrat senator Mark Warner and Republican Marco Rubio issued a call this month for the US Federal Trade Commission to investigate ByteDance due to “repeated misrepresentations” over its handling of US data.