This is the latest move by Canberra to limit the popular video-sharing app because of supposed security risks.

Australia will not let federal government devices use the video-sharing app TikTok because of security concerns. This means that Australia will join the United States, France, and the United Kingdom as countries that limit the use of TikTok.

Western officials had warned that China could use the app, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, to spy on users and control public debate. This led to the app being banned.

Mark Dreyfus, Australia's Attorney General, said on Tuesday that the ban would go into effect "as soon as it is possible to do so." He also said that exceptions would be made on a case-by-case basis, as long as security precautions were taken.

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Australia is the last of the "Five Eyes" intelligence partners to put restrictions like this in place. The US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand have already done so.


The announcement comes at a time when Australia is worried about espionage and interference by Beijing. This has led Canberra to pass sweeping anti-foreign interference laws and put restrictions on Chinese firms, including Huawei.


TikTok has said that the app is not a security risk and that it has never shared data with the Chinese government and never will.


The US Congress is thinking about passing a law that would force ByteDance to sell the app TikTok, which has 150 million users in the US, or ban it completely.


Critics have said that the proposed ban might go against the right to free speech in the US Constitution. They have also said that such a move would be hypocritical, since US tech companies have a bad track record when it comes to privacy and the US government has a history of spying.


China has said that it would "strongly oppose" a forced sale of TikTok and that basing such a move on "foreign ownership, rather than its products and services" would hurt investor confidence in the US.


SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES