TikTok’s officials in Australia called the decision “disappointing.” theSun theSundaily Australia TikTok NewZealand USA Chinese China
: The Australian government on Tuesday decided to ban its officials from using the video-sharing application TikTok on their devices.
In a statement, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said that he has authorised the issuance of a mandatory direction to prohibit the Chinese app on devices by Commonwealth departments and agencies, reported Anadolu Agency. “After receiving advice from intelligence and security agencies, today I authorised the secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department to issue a mandatory direction under the Protective Security Policy Framework to prohibit the TikTok app on devices issued by Commonwealth departments and agencies,“ said Dreyfus.The attorney-general said that exemptions will only be granted on a case-by-case basis and with appropriate security mitigations in place.
Australia was the last country in the “Five Eyes”, an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to ban their officials from using TikTok on their professional devices.“We’re extremely disappointed with this decision. In our view, this is driven by politics and not by fact,“ ABC news quoted TikTok general manager in Australia, Lee Hunter, as saying.