Tom Minear: Time for Anthony Albanese to ban TikTok on government devices

The clock is ticking on Australia’s failure to ban TikTok from government devices, but there could still be a way for ordinary users to keep the app, says Tom Minear.

How is TikTok still allowed on Australian government devices?

The need for a ban on the Chinese-owned app has been glaringly obvious since shortly after the Albanese government was elected, when explosive media reports confirmed what had long been suspected but denied by the company.

TikTok user data was being accessed by staff in China, putting it within reach of Chinese laws that can compel companies to hand over information to the government.

In case that wasn’t a compelling enough reason to act – and it absolutely was – TikTok admitted in December that its employees used the app to spy on the journalists who broke those stories to track down their sources.

Australia is lagging behind other countries in banning TikTok from government devices. Picture: Tim Pascoe/ NCA NewsWire

The question of whether the wildly popular short-form video app should be banned entirely is a complicated one, and we’ll return to it later. But on government devices? TikTok should not be anywhere near sensitive information and networks.

As FBI director Christopher Wray puts it: “This is a tool that is ultimately within the control of the Chinese government … It screams out with national security concerns.”

A ban ordered in the US late last year kicks in this week. The European Union and Canada acted in February, followed by the UK, New Zealand and France in March.

What is going on in Canberra? Has a staffer been trapped so deep in a rabbit warren of viral videos that they have forgotten to send out the press release announcing an Australian ban?

TikTok chief Shou Zi Chew confirmed user data was still accessible by the company’s staff in China. Picture: AFP

Anthony Albanese has reportedly decided to take action, although according to the Nine papers, the government delayed confirming the move last week as the Prime Minister prioritised finalising the wording of the Indigenous Voice referendum.

This reeks of a political operation more worried about the announcement than the delivery – a criticism Labor so effectively made of Scott Morrison – because if the government is of the view that TikTok poses a genuine risk, then there is no excuse to delay implementing a ban.

While they were dithering, TikTok chief Shou Zi Chew told a congressional inquiry here in the US that data from the app’s one billion users was still accessible by staff in China.

Opposition cyber security spokesman James Paterson, who has been lobbying for a ban on government devices for months, rightly says it is “the lowest-hanging fruit”. This is not a hard call – and there should be no further delay in making it.

Liberal Senator James Paterson has been leading the charge for a TikTok ban on government devices. Picture: Martin Ollman/ NCA NewsWire

But deciding how to manage the risks posed by TikTok for non-government users is trickier.

There are plenty of valid arguments in favour of an overall ban. In addition to privacy concerns, security experts warn the app could be used in foreign influence operations by promoting particular narratives or shutting down others.

TikTok has also been guilty of promoting harmful content about suicide, bullying and body image. While this is a problem for many platforms, TikTok’s overwhelming and addictive popularity among teenagers makes this especially alarming.

Chew was grilled over these issues in last week’s hearing. But instead of incisively exposing why TikTok should be banned, politicians mostly spent their time reading pompous statements, cutting off his answers and revealing their technological ignorance.

It was a show trial by what Republican Buddy Carter called “the most bipartisan committee in Congress”. What brought them together, of course, was TikTok’s China link.

Nothing unites Democrats and Republicans more these days than taking on the Communist Party, which is what makes killing off the app so popular on Capitol Hill. The Chinese government’s declaration that it would oppose the Biden administration’s plan to force a sale of TikTok only upped the stakes for China hawks campaigning for a ban.

But a forced sale makes more sense, alongside new laws to regulate foreign-owned apps.

For a start, banning TikTok for everyone would be the same as China blocking access to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. That is not a step democracies should take lightly.

It would also set an unnecessarily blunt precedent, given that the top four most-downloaded apps in the US in the past month all have Chinese ownership. You may not have heard of Temu, CapCut or SHEIN, but it is hard to see how they could avoid a ban too.

Shou Zi Chew’s appearance at a US congressional hearing was a show trial rather than an incisive effort to explain why TikTok should be banned. Picture: Getty Images

And as US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a refreshing dose of honesty: “The politician in me thinks you’re going to literally lose every voter under 35 forever.”

Of course, that is not a justification in and of itself to avoid banning TikTok, but it sums up why governments should consider more nuanced action, especially given the app has been allowed to thrive by operating legally within rules that have not been kept fit-for-purpose.

If that is the view of the Albanese government, which has commissioned a detailed review, then it will likely have to rely on the US to wrangle a forced sale or another global solution.

In the meantime, Australia must ban TikTok on government devices. The clock is ticking.

Originally published as Tom Minear: Time for Anthony Albanese to ban TikTok on government devices