Australia bans TikTok on government devices over security concerns

Australia banned TikTok on Tuesday from all federal government-owned devices over security concerns, Reuters reported.

The ban underscores growing worries that China could use the Beijing-based company, owned by ByteDance Ltd, to harvest users’ data to advance its political agenda, undermining Western security interests.

TikTok said it was extremely disappointed by Australia’s decision, calling it “driven by politics, not by fact”.

According to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, the ban will come into effect “as soon as practicable”, adding that exemptions would only be granted on a case-by-case basis and with appropriate security measures in place.