The decision was made on the advice of Australian intelligence services and will be implemented “as quickly as possible”, Australian Justice Minister Mark Dreyfus said.
Australia is the latest country in the so-called “Five Eyes” alliance to ban TikTok from the government, following the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand.
Similar measures have been taken in France, the Netherlands and the European Commission.
At the center of concern is a 2017 Chinese law that requires local businesses to hand over personal data allegedly related to security, if requested by authorities.
At first, TikTok said the bans were “rooted in xenophobia”, before admitting last December to collecting personal data to spy on journalists.
The popularity of the video-sharing application has exploded in recent years, especially among young people. Many Australian government departments had previously sought to expand their presence on the app to reach younger audiences.
Tiktok is owned by Chinese group ByteDance, which has a similar but separate app for China.
Earlier this year, the Australian government also announced that it was removing Chinese-made CCTV surveillance cameras from politicians’ offices, also for security reasons.
EJ // CAD
By Impala News / Lusa
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