Days after the UK banned TikTok from government devices, New Zealand joined the trend by banning the short video app from parliamentary devices. The move comes amid growing security concerns over TikTok owner ByteDance, which passes user data to the Chinese government.
Authorities in the country cited cybersecurity reasons and said the app would be banned on any device with access to the parliament’s network by the end of March. However, the authorities make an exception for people who might need the app to “perform their democratic duties”. They did not specify what this could mean.
Parliamentary Service Director General Rafael Gonzalez-Montero told Reuters in an email that the government made the decision after consulting cybersecurity experts and authorities in other countries.
“Based on this information, the Service has determined that the risks are not acceptable in the current New Zealand parliamentary environment,” he said.
“On the advice of our cybersecurity experts, the Parliamentary Service has advised members and staff that the TikTok app will be removed from all devices with access to the Parliamentary Network.”
TikTok did not immediately comment on the development.
New Zealand joins a plethora of countries that have banned TikTok from official devices. In December, the US House of Representatives banned the app from devices for all staff and lawmakers. Other countries like Canada and Belgium have also joined the fray by banning the app. Last month, the European Union also ordered its staff to remove TikTok from their devices.
Notably, India banned TikTok from the country in 2020 saying the app threatened “India’s national security and defence”. At the time, India was the largest short video app market with over 200 million users.
While bans on various government devices might worry TikTok, its China-based owner’s most pressing concern might be an impending U.S. embargo. The Biden administration would threaten a ban unless ByteDance cuts ties with TikTok and sells the app.
TikTok has repeatedly tried to convince US governments (and others) that China cannot access any user data. It has been audited by Oracle and has asked the press and regulator to visit its new Transparency Center which allows them to peek into the app’s moderation policies. The company has spent nearly $1.5 billion on the charm offensive campaign in an attempt to appease authorities.
“If the goal is to protect national security, divestment does not solve the problem: a change of ownership would not impose any new restrictions on flows or access to data,” said Maureen Shanahan, spokesperson for TikTok, at TechCrunch earlier this week. “The best way to address national security concerns is to provide transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, auditing, and auditing, which we are already implementing.”
