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TikTok could soon be banned in the US as data collection concerns grow, but Australia has ‘no plans’ to follow in its allies’ footsteps.
The short 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 on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would give ByteDance six months to divest the app and sell to a company not based in China.
If this fails, Apple’s App Store and Google Play store would be barred from hosting TikTok, effectively banning its use across the United States.
But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday the Australian government was not expected to emulate the US.
“With Congress and the US banning TikTok, do you think we’re going to do the same here in Australia,” asked WSFM host Brendan Jones.
“We will take advice but we have no plans,” he told WSFM Sydney.
“You always have to keep national security concerns at the center, but you also have to recognize that for a whole lot of people, it gives them a way to communicate.”
Australia May Be On Track To Ban TikTok After US Threatens To Implement Nationwide Embargo On Popular App (Stock)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday shrugged off speculation that Australia would follow in the US’s footsteps by banning TikTok
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on Thursday called on Mr Albanese to ‘show some leadership’ over TikTok concerns.
“I think the Prime Minister needs to show leadership here, at a time when we are being informed that young people using TikTok are having their personal information, their photos and their most intimate discussions collected,” said he.
‘When it is collected by a country or a third party, the Prime Minister has to act, and so far he has not done that.’
Meanwhile, shadow home affairs spokesman James Paterson called on the government to implement similar reforms or otherwise put Australia at risk.
“What this legislation does is it… breaks the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and what has become the most dominant source of news and information in the world for young people,” he told Sky News on Thursday.
He claims the Chinese government is gaining ‘unregulated access’ to Australian devices and is using it to misuse citizens’ data and influence their worldview.
“It is not a national security threat we should tolerate at any time, but especially at a time of heightened strategic competition,” Senator Paterson said.
The House of Representatives passed a bill that would give ByteDance six months to sell the app to a company not based in China (pictured, TikTok fans protest in the US)
Home Secretary Clare O’Neil said she would follow the outcome of the bill, which still needs to be passed in the Senate.
“We are monitoring the bill’s progress in the United States and will take further action if and when relevant agencies recommend that it is appropriate to do so,” a spokesman for the minister said on Wednesday.
‘The Albanian government has taken strong measures in line with advice from our agencies to restrict access to TikTok on devices used to handle sensitive information.’
In Australia, TikTok is only banned on government devices, preventing public servants from downloading the app on their work-issued phones.
US politicians argue that the app poses a security risk as Americans’ data could be shared with the Chinese government due to ByteDance’s ties to the country.
But TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has repeatedly told Congress that US data is stored in Singapore, not China.
TikTok’s fate now rests in the hands of US senators, who will review the legislation.