New Zealand to ban TikTok on lawmakers’ devices over cybersecurity worries
- The short video platform will be banned on all devices with access to New Zealand’s parliamentary network by the end of March
- TikTok has come under scrutiny from Western governments due to fears that user data from the Chinese app could end up in the hands of Beijing
The depth of those concerns was underscored this week when the Biden administration demanded that TikTok’s Chinese owners divest their stakes or the app could face a US ban.
In New Zealand, TikTok will be banned on all devices with access to parliament’s network by the end of March.
Australia isn’t banning TikTok, yet. Neither is Japan
Parliamentary Service Chief Executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said that the decision was taken after advice from cybersecurity experts and discussions within government and with 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.
Special arrangements can be made for those who require the app to do their jobs, he added.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he did not have TikTok on his smartphone.
“I’m not that hip and trendy,” he told reporters.
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US orders TikTok be removed from all government devices within 30 days
Hipkins said cybersecurity advice came from New Zealand’s intelligence agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau.
He said New Zealand did not take a blanket approach to all government workers, and it would be up to each department or agency to make cybersecurity decisions.
Both New Zealand’s defence force and ministry of foreign affairs and trade said on Friday they had already implemented bans on TikTok on work devices.
A spokesman for the New Zealand defence force said the move was a “precautionary approach to protect the safety and security” of personnel.
TikTok, a Chinese soft-power time bomb in your living room?
ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Britain on Thursday banned the app on government phones with immediate effect. Government agencies in the US have until the end of March to delete the app from official devices.
TikTok has said it believes the recent bans are based on “fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics”, adding that it has spent more than US$1.5 billion on rigorous data security efforts and rejects spying allegations.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
