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China’s Ministry of Commerce says Australia’s discriminatory restrictions on TikTok do not constitute a national security concern.
China’s Ministry of Commerce issued a statement on April 7 calling on Australia to treat all companies, including TikTok, fairly.
The statement stated that prohibiting the installation of TikTok applications on all devices owned by the Australian Federal Government harms the interests of Australian businesses and the public.
According to the ministry, Australia treats TikTok differently than other social media platforms and has adopted discriminatory measures that are not based on the country’s national security.
[Australian government bans TikTok on government devices]
China also called on Australia to create a favorable environment for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
Earlier, the Australian government announced on April 4 that it would ban the use of TikTok apps on government devices due to concerns about user data leakage and the resulting national security risks.
With the decision, Australia will become the last member of the Five Eyes intelligence-security alliance, which includes the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand, to impose a TikTok ban on official devices. It follows similar decisions by France, the Netherlands and the European Commission.
TikTok – owned by ByteDance (China) company – is known for its short and funny videos.
The app has previously been used by many government agencies in Australia as a bridge to a younger population that is more difficult to reach through traditional communication channels.
However, cybersecurity experts have warned that TikTok may have shared the data it collects from its more than 1 billion regular users around the world with third parties.
