TikTok might be banned on Australian government devices

Australia becomes the last nation in the "five eyes" intelligence alliance to block the app, following similar decisions by the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, reports Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the ban would come into effect "as soon as practicable".

He said exemptions would be granted on a case-by-case basis.

"After receiving advice from intelligence and security agencies, today I authorised the secretary of the Attorney-General's Department to issue a mandatory direction under the Protective Security Policy Framework to prohibit the TikTok app on devices issued by Commonwealth departments and agencies," he said in a statement as quoted by ABC.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Victorian and ACT governments confirmed to the ABC that they expected an imminent ban.

"We've always said we'll follow the Commonwealth's guidance when it comes to cybersecurity – and we'll now work on implementing these changes across the public service as soon as possible," a spokesperson for Premier Daniel Andrews said.

A spokesperson from the ACT government said the territory government would work with the Commonwealth to adopt restrictions.

"The ACT government was notified yesterday of an imminent announcement from the Commonwealth to ban TikTok from Government devices," they said in a statement as quoted by ABC.

"Based on the Commonwealth's advice, and the desirability of national cybersecurity consistency, the ACT government will consider similar restrictions on territory government devices at a security and emergency management meeting of Cabinet tomorrow."

TikTok has continuously denied that the app may be a threat to national security.

TikTok's general manager in Australia Lee Hunter on Monday evening told ABC he had not heard from the government.

"We're extremely disappointed with this decision. In our view, this is driven by politics and not by fact," Hunter told ABC.

Hunter told ABC there was no evidence that TikTok posed any security risk to ordinary Australians.

"We're very keen to meet with [Minister O'Neil] and anyone in government to explain the truth of the platform. We know that we have to work harder than other platforms because of the scrutiny we get," he said.