Ban TikTok, ByteDance Disappointed Australia Take Decisions Not Based On Facts

TikTok is disappointed with the Australian government's decision (photo: Pexel)

JAKARTA - Australia is joining several other Western countries to remove TikTok, the China-owned video app on all federal government-owned devices due to security concerns.

Furthermore, Attorney General Mark Dreyfus in an announcement issued on Tuesday, April 4 also revealed that the ban would be implemented as soon as possible.

"After receiving advice from intelligence and security agencies, today I authorized the Secretary of the Attorney General's Department to issue mandatory directives under the Protection Security Policy Framework to ban the Tik Tok app on devices issued by the Commonwealth department and agency. The directives will take effect as soon as possible," said Dreyfus, in the announcement.

Responding to the Australian government's decision, in a written statement quoted by TechCrunch, Lee Hunter, General Manager, TikTok Australia and New Zealand admitted that they were disappointed with the decision. Because according to him, the decision was taken not based on facts, but at political push.

"We are very disappointed with this decision, which we think is driven by politics, not facts. We are also disappointed that TikTok, and the millions of Australians who use it, are allowed to know about this decision through the media, although we have repeatedly offered to engage constructively with the government on this policy," Hunter said.

Once again, Hunter also reiterated that there is no evidence to suggest that TikTok is a security risk for Australians. He also requested that this ByteDance-owned application not be treated differently from other social media platforms.

Last month, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the US Congress for approximately five hours. There, Chew tried to convince lawmakers that Chinese authorities had no access to US user data.