China has claimed that Australia’s “discriminatory” ban on TikTok from all federal government-owned devices harmed Australian businesses and the general public.
China in a statement made public on Friday urged the Australian government to treat all firms fairly.
“Australia treated TikTok differently from other social media platforms and adopted discriminatory restrictive measures, which are not conducive to maintaining Australia’s national security,” the statement said.
China also urged Australia to foster an environment conducive to bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
TikTok, which is owned by China, has come under intense scrutiny in the United States and other European countries, with a ban on the app looming in the United States after TikTok’s CEO, Chew was invited to a Congress hearing to explain the activities of TikTok in the US.
In Britain, the app has been banned by the government and the BBC has also banned the phone of its workers.
The Taliban leadership in Afghanistan banned TikTok and the game PUBG in 2022 in order to protect young people from being “misled.”
Belgium temporarily blocked TikTok from federal government-owned or paid-for devices, citing concerns about cybersecurity, privacy, and misinformation.
TikTok is not permitted on government-issued devices in Canada, citing a “unacceptable” risk to privacy and security.
Employees will be barred from downloading the app in the future as well.
Denmark’s Defense Ministry prohibited its employees from using TikTok on their work phones, ordering those who had installed the app to remove it as soon as possible. According to the ministry, the ban was imposed due to “heavy security considerations.”
The European Parliament, European Commission, and EU Council, the EU’s three main institutions, have all banned TikTok from staff devices. The European Parliament’s ban also advised lawmakers and staff to delete the TikTok app from their personal devices.
Because of concerns about inadequate data security measures, “recreational” use of TikTok and other social media apps such as Twitter and Instagram on government employees’ phones has been prohibited.
In 2020, India banned TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps, including messaging app WeChat, due to privacy and security concerns. The ban was imposed shortly after a clash between Indian and Chinese troops along a disputed Himalayan border killed 20 Indian soldiers and injured dozens more.
Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics of Latvia tweeted that he had deleted his TikTok account and that the app was also blocked on official foreign ministry smartphones.
The Dutch central government has prohibited the use of apps such as TikTok on employee work phones, citing data security concerns.
Following the advice of government cybersecurity experts, New Zealand lawmakers and Parliament staff will be prohibited from using the TikTok app on their work phones.
After the Norwegian Justice Ministry warned that the app should not be installed on phones issued to government employees, the Norwegian parliament banned Tiktok on work devices.
Since October 2020, Pakistani authorities have temporarily banned TikTok at least four times, citing concerns that the app promotes immoral content.
Taiwan banned TikTok in the public sector in December 2022 after the FBI warned that it posed a national security risk. Government devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, and desktop computers, are not permitted to run Chinese-made software, such as TikTok.