(CNN) Australia has joined other Western countries in banning the use of TikTok on government devices as the Chinese-owned video app comes under increasing pressure over claims it presents a security issue.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus announced the ban Tuesday after receiving advice from intelligence and security agencies, saying the directive would be imposed “as soon as possible.”
The decision puts Australia in line with its allies in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, the US, Brittany and Canada have already announced similar restrictions, while new zealand parliament He also ordered the app to be removed from all devices with access to the legislature.
Norway and the European Parliament have made similar moves, and last week NATO banned employees from downloading the app on NATO-provided devices, according to two NATO officials familiar with the matter.
So far, there is no evidence that the Chinese government has accessed TikTok user data, and no government has enacted a broader ban targeting TikTok on personal devices.
However the The Biden administration has threatened to do that in the United States unless the app’s Chinese owners, Bytedance, agree to spin off their part of the social media platform.
The US government is concerned that China could use its national security laws to access the significant amount of personal information that TikTok, like most social media apps, collects from its US users.
During a high-profile congressional hearing on the matter, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was questioned about the tech company’s alleged ties to the Chinese government.
Chew has said that the Chinese government has never asked TikTok for its data and that the company would reject any such request.
For its part, China’s Commerce Ministry said it would “strongly oppose” any decision that results in the forced sale of TikTok, adding that it would “severely damage” global investor confidence in the United States.
