Bans on TikTok continue to spread throughout the world, with the Australian Government becoming the latest to ban the app on Government-issued devices.

Australian Attorney General Mark Dreyfus has stated that he is imposing a government staff ban based on advice from security agencies, and all federal public servants are being advised to remove the app as soon as possible. Besides this, several Australian state governments are also assessing a potential ban, and the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) is also reviewing its use of the app.

The ABC is a state-funded organization, but this stage of the bans only restricts non-corporate-related elements.

The Australian ban comes as part of a developing list of regions restricting or banning TikTok outright and has mostly applied only to government-affiliated usage at least at this stage.
TikTok restrictions are slowly spreading across the world, with geopolitical tensions still simmering and fears over the possible misuse of TikTok data creating warnings from security and law enforcement groups.

Which makes some sense. While much of TikTok's counter-offense has rested on how other social media apps collect up user information too, the question is whether information TikTok obtains might be handed to Chinese authorities, which would, of course, view that as having potential use in having officials work against government personnel able to affect policy.

As such, there’s clear logic to removing TikTok from government staff devices specifically. And really, why do government employees need TikTok on their official devices anyway?

The Australian Government has now joined the ranks of all members of the 'Five Eyes' intelligence sharing network, which includes Australia, Canada, the US, the UK and New Zealand, to ban the app from government devices. That indicates that the intelligence community has clearly expressed concerns about the app.

There is the question of whether these concerns extend to regular users-in particular, youngsters using the app to connect and share with friends.

On one hand, regular users would seem less susceptible to any potential interference in this respect – but then again, if you extend the logic that it could be used to spy on government employees, what about their family and their friends? There could be reason to institute broader bans – which is what the US Government is now mulling over as we head into the Easter break.

And you can bet that if the White House bans the app outright, most of these regions will follow suit.

The recent appearance of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew before the US Senate may have helped to make him an icon in the app, but it appears to have done little to ease concerns among cybersecurity groups.