Is tiktok getting banned in Australia?

Is tiktok getting banned in Australia?

In the news recently there has been a lot of chat about TikTok and also about is tiktok getting banned in Australia? The quick answer to this is most likely no it is not getting banned in Australia, however it could be getting banned. Let’s take a look at what is happening here and some of the things that are happening to TikTok at the moment. I will add some sources below and some recent stories about TikTok, that you can all click through and read and see what is going on.

This article will be updated in the future if more news emerges about Is tiktok getting banned in Australia?

Updates

August 1 2020: Updated information about Donald Trump saying he’ll ban Tik Tok has been posted below.

August 1 2020: Microsoft is planning to buy TikTok? Information is posted below.

Is TikTok banned in any other countries?

At the moment TikTok is only banned in India. There has been talk of other countries possibly banning it, but nothing has actually been done.

In India, on June 29 2020 Tik Tok was given a permanent ban in the country. It was not actually the only app to be banned, India also banned 59 other apps, all of which were also Chinese. In an article with The Times Of India it was said that the ban was because the apps were “engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India.” You can read the full article and all its information about the ban here.

There is some background to this ban in India. In India at the moment, there are some tensions between them and China at the border and things are getting pretty serious there. We won’t go into all the details about this in this article, but if you want to read some more information about the conflict there, you can find it in an article from the ABC here. It’s very possible the app bans in India are related to this conflict.

When is tiktok getting banned in Australia?

There are no other countries at the time of writing that have banned TikTok recently, but there has been some discussion and comments from politicians. In an article from the ABC it has some details about Australia’s comments about the question of Is tiktok getting banned in Australia? it can be found here. We recommend reading this article in full, but an important part of it is where it says “In Australia, Federal government MP George Christensen said TikTok, along with other Chinese applications like WeChat, should be banned.”

Politicians often say many things and with comments like that, we might think that it might just get banned, but at the time of writing I can still log into TikTok here in Australia so it hasn’t been banned yet and it’s been many days. If you read the words carefully of what he said, he is saying “should be banned” not “will be banned” so if you are wondering when is tiktok getting banned in Australia? Our answer at the moment is if this comment is all there is, then probably it won’t be banned for some time and not unless it gets more support from more politicians.

TikTok is actually only banned in Australia for use by the Australian Defence forces, it’s not allowed to be used on their devices. In the United States Tiktok is also not able to be used by its defence forces. In an article from the ABC they say “The popular Chinese smartphone app is not allowed on Australian Defence devices, following a similar ban by US military forces.” You can continue reading this article in full here. For private citizens, it seems they can keep using it all they like for now.

Why are people questioning the safety of TikTok?

The security of TikTok was brought into question recently by the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who said the United States is “looking at” banning TikTok with the main reason being security concerns. Similar to what’s happening between India and China with the tensions there, the United States has its tensions with China over trade which has been going on for some time now. You can find the full article with Mike Pompeo’s comments about Tik Tok being ‘looked at’ here. Of course however, we must also look at his words, he is saying “looking at” not “will be” or “we are going ” to ban TikTok which means we think that it probably won’t get banned for a long time, unless something serious happens in the future.

Continuing on with the question about security, in another recent online article by the NZ Herald about TikTok’s security they wrote that “The app reportedly tracks users’ phone hardware – meaning their CPU type, hardware IDs, memory usage and disk space – as well as the other apps users have installed.” More details of this and the security of TikTok can be found in the full article here.

Is tiktok getting banned in Australia? I do not think it will be banned any time soon and if it does, I’ll update this story. There is a process to follow in Australia and the USA for banning apps, for it to be actually legal to do so and this takes time, it’s likely not going to be a quick instant ban and possibly may never happen at all. For now, what seems to be going on with TikTok is mostly just politics. However, in recent history it has been shown that it’s not impossible for the Australian government to ban Chinese products, Huawei’s recent ban in the country does demonstrate that anything is possible. You can find more information about Huawei’s ban in Australia here.

Update! President Donald Trump Says He’ll Ban TikTok

President Donald Trump said this week “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,”. In a report by The Hlll they said “The president said he could use emergency economic powers or an executive order as early as Saturday to officially bar the Chinese-owned company from the U.S. He signaled he was not supportive of allowing an American company to acquire TikTok.”

It’s already Saturday here in Australia but we’re a few hours ahead of the United States, so let’s see what happens with this news over the weeekend. This post will be updated as more news emerges about if Tik Tok is getting banned in Australia. Australia tends to often follow what the USA does, so if it gets banned there, it’s highly possibly it may also get banned here, we’ll just have to wait and see if anything gets announced about it to know.

Update! Does Microsoft Want to Buy TikTok?

In another report by The Hill it has been reported that Microsoft is in talks with ByteDance, the Company that owns TikTok to buy TikTok. Whether or not this goes through we don’t know, but President Trump may ban TikTok so fast that Microsoft won’t be able to buy it in time. The President has stated that he is not supportive of an American company acquiring TikTok.

What even is TikTok?

TikTok is a Chinese video sharing app which is owned by a company known as ByteDance. It is a video sharing dance app where users can post themselves doing various dances or other quick and short videos. Most of them all fairly funny to watch and I myself have spent hours on there. The app used to actually be called Douyin when it was launched in China in 2016, but when it launched in other markets in 2017 it was called TikTok. In the United States TikTok came out in 2018.

Source: What even is Tik Tok information and also India ban date – Wikipedia

We will keep this story updated in the future if more news is released about Is tiktok getting banned in Australia? For more social media news about TikTok you can find it on Resident Entertainment here.