PM rules out TikTok ban as US acts
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says there are no plans for Australia to block TikTok, as the social media app faces a nationwide ban in the US amid national security concerns.
The US says it will ban TikTok if the owner doesn't sell to a non-Chinese owner, but the Albanese Government has no such plans despite banning its use on government-owned devices. Photo: AAP
The short-form video app owned by Chinese company ByteDance is one of the fastest growing platforms in the world, with more than 170 million users in the US and 8.5 million Australian users.
But national security concerns led the US House of Representatives to pass a bill on Wednesday that would give ByteDance six months to divest from the app and sell to a company that is not based in China.
Failing to do this, Apple’s App Store and Google Play store would be barred from hosting TikTok, effectively banning its use across the US.
Albanese said on Thursday the Australian government was not expected to emulate the US.
“We’ll take advice but we have no plans,” he said.
“You’ve always got to have national security concerns, front and centre, but you also need to acknowledge that for a whole lot of people, this provides a way of them communicating.”
In Australia, TikTok is only banned on government devices, which prevents public servants from downloading the app on their work-issued phones.
US politicians claim the app poses a security risk as Americans’ data could be shared with the Chinese government due to ByteDance’s affiliations with the country.
But TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew has repeatedly told Congress US data is held in Singapore, not China.
TikTok’s fate now rests in the hands of US senators, who will review the legislation.
– AAP
