Australia bans TikTok on govt devices over China snooping concerns

Australia has become the latest country to ban Chinese social media app TikTok on government devices over security concerns. Australia's Attorney General on 4 April 2023 said that the ban would be implemented "as soon as practicable".

A similar ban was announced earlier by USA, Canada, United Kingdom, and New Zealand. India has also banned TikTok over user data concerns.

TikTok is owned by the Chinese technology company Bytedance and has long maintained that it does not share data with the Chinese government. It is carrying out a project to store U.S. user data in Texas, which it says will put it out China's reach.

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The company also disputes accusations it collects more user data than other social media companies, and insists that it is run independently by its own management.

(With PTI inputs)