English
The Australian government says intelligence agencies have not called for TikTok to be banned on government devices, despite major allies limiting public servants' use of the social media app over security concerns.
The US decision to ban the Chinese-owned video sharing app from all government devices prompted criticism from Beijing.
Mao Ning is the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
“We demand the relevant U.S. institutions and individuals discard their ideological bias and zero-sum Cold War mentality, view China and China-U.S. relations in an objective and rational light, stop framing China as a threat by quoting disinformation, stop denigrating the Communist Party of China and stop trying to score political points at the expense of China-U.S. relations.”
Employees at US federal agencies have been given 30 days to wipe TikTok from their work devices over fears its parent company ByteDance may be harvesting personal data for the Chinese government.
Mike Gallagher who is the House Select Committee Chairman explains his concerns.
"But the bigger coup for the Chinese Communist Party, if TikTok is permitted to continue operating in the United States and if WeChat and other Chinese platforms are allowed to continue to operate, is that it gives the Chinese Communist Party the ability to manipulate our social discourse, the news to censor and suppress, or to amplify what tens of millions of Americans see and read and experience in here through their social media app."
Anton Dahbura the Executive director of the John Hopkins University Information Security Institute says even the most harmless use of Tiktok can be of use to foreign agents.
"It may seem innocuous for some who may say, 'Well, I'm not doing anything...You know, I'm not working in a nuclear power plant,' or things like that. But there are so many ways that that foreign actors, especially the Chinese, but not limited to them, can make use of these little breadcrumbs that we leave, so that, even though most of us think that we're not doing anything that would be of interest to a foreign government, that's not really true."
And it is not only the US that chose to impose the Tiktok ban.
The European Union did, as well as European Union Commission chief spokeswoman Sonya Gospodinova explains.
"The reasons why the decision has been taken is to increase the (European) Commission's cybersecurity. Also, the measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the Commission."
The European Union's decision also drew ire from Ms Ning.
“The EU claims to be the most open market in the world, but recently it has been taking restrictive measures and unreasonably suppressing other countries' companies on the ground of national security. This would dampen international community's confidence in the business environment in the EU. The EU should match its words with deeds, respect the market economy and fair competition, stop overstretching and abusing the concept of national security and provide an open, fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for all companies.”
Also joining the EU and the US ban is Canada according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“We are making the decision that for government employees, for government equipment, it is better to not have them access Tik Tok because of the concerns that people have in terms of safety. This may be a first step, it may be the only step we need to take. But every step of the way, we're going to be making sure we're keeping Canadians safe. And certainly I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their on their work phones, many Canadians, from businesses to private individuals, will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices in consequence. But I'm always a fan of giving Canadians the information for them to make the right decisions for them.”
In Australia, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government had yet to receive advice recommending a blanket ban on Tiktok on government issued devices.
But Australian cybersecurity expert Susan McLean says if other governements are concerned, Australia should be too.
"I think that if anyone actually knew the data that was being collated on them when they used it, how it was being used and the fact that can be fed back to the Chinese Communist Party. Many people would simply walk away, but there's not a great understanding of that. And I think that if the American government, the Canadian government are concerned to this level, then we should be looking at it very seriously as well."
Ms McLean references the takedown of Chinese manufactured cameras in Australian government buildings citing security concerns, saying TikTok has to comply with requests from the Chinese Communist Party for data and information.
"Anything that is a Chinese owned entity is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party, and has to provide whatever they ask - now they come out and say that you know they don't and our data is held here and it doesn't go back there, but really you know, you've got to look here locally, the reality that the surveillance or the security cameras around the government buildings and now link back to China and they've all been pulled out - then I think there's something in it."
Luke Franchina is one TikTok influencer with 3.9 million followers.
Mr Franchina says it is not just Tiktok that gathers data.
"To be honest, I think uh, I used to be very concerned about my data, but being on social media, I think there's a lot of companies that take advantage of data and selling it. And so TikTok, in my mind, is just another company doing that. I think that a lot of this data that's already out there, a lot of the data that they're collecting is already out there somewhere and they could probably purchase it about me from a different place if they're not getting get it from TikTok."
Italian
Il governo australiano ha detto che le agenzie di intelligence non hanno ancora richiesto di proibire TikTok nei dispositivi pubblici, nonostante i maggiori alleati stiano limitando l’uso della app social da parte dei dipendenti pubblici a causa di preoccupazioni per la sicurezza.
La decisione degli Stati Uniti di vietare la app di condivisione video di proprietà cinese da tutti i dispositivi di proprietà del governo americano ha scatenato critiche da Pechino.
Mao Ning è il portavoce del ministro degli Esteri cinese.
“We demand the relevant U.S. institutions and individuals discard their ideological bias and zero-sum Cold War mentality, view China and China-U.S. relations in an objective and rational light, stop framing China as a threat by quoting disinformation, stop denigrating the Communist Party of China and stop trying to score political points at the expense of China-U.S. relations.”
I dipendenti delle agenzie americane federali hanno 30 giorni per disinstallare TikTok dai dispositivi di lavoro, per timore che la compagnia madre ByteDance possa raccogliere dati personali per conto del governo cinese.
Mike Gallagher che è il presidente della commissione parlamentare ha esposto le sue perplessità.
"But the bigger coup for the Chinese Communist Party, if TikTok is permitted to continue operating in the United States and if WeChat and other Chinese platforms are allowed to continue to operate, is that it gives the Chinese Communist Party the ability to manipulate our social discourse, the news to censor and suppress, or to amplify what tens of millions of Americans see and read and experience in here through their social media app."
Anton Dahbura, il direttore esecutivo dell’istituto di sicurezza dell’informazione della John Hopkins University ha detto che anche il più innocuo uso di TikTok può essere utile per agenti stranieri.
"It may seem innocuous for some who may say, 'Well, I'm not doing anything...You know, I'm not working in a nuclear power plant,' or things like that. But there are so many ways that that foreign actors, especially the Chinese, but not limited to them, can make use of these little breadcrumbs that we leave, so that, even though most of us think that we're not doing anything that would be of interest to a foreign government, that's not really true."
E non sono solo gli Stati Uniti a scegliere di imporre il divieto su TikTok.
L’Unione Europea ha fatto lo stesso, come ha spiegato la prima portavoce della commissione dell’Unione Europea Sonya Gospodinova.
"The reasons why the decision has been taken is to increase the (European) Commission's cybersecurity. Also, the measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks against the corporate environment of the Commission."
Anche la decisione dell’Unione Europea ha scatenato le ire di Mao Ning.
“The EU claims to be the most open market in the world, but recently it has been taking restrictive measures and unreasonably suppressing other countries' companies on the ground of national security. This would dampen international community's confidence in the business environment in the EU. The EU should match its words with deeds, respect the market economy and fair competition, stop overstretching and abusing the concept of national security and provide an open, fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for all companies.”
Anche il Canada si è unito ai divieti dell’Unione Europea e degli Stati Uniti, a detta del Primo ministro Justin Trudeau.
“We are making the decision that for government employees, for government equipment, it is better to not have them access Tik Tok because of the concerns that people have in terms of safety. This may be a first step, it may be the only step we need to take. But every step of the way, we're going to be making sure we're keeping Canadians safe. And certainly I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their on their work phones, many Canadians, from businesses to private individuals, will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices in consequence. But I'm always a fan of giving Canadians the information for them to make the right decisions for them.”
In Australia, il ministro del Tesoro Jim Chalmers ha detto che il governo è in attesa di un parere che consigli un divieto generalizzato di TikTok dai dispositivi forniti dal governo.
Ma l’esperta australiana di cyber-sicurezza Susan McLean ha detto che se altri governi sono preoccupati, anche l’Australia dovrebbe esserlo.
"I think that if anyone actually knew the data that was being collated on them when they used it, how it was being used and the fact that can be fed back to the Chinese Communist Party. Many people would simply walk away, but there's not a great understanding of that. And I think that if the American government, the Canadian government are concerned to this level, then we should be looking at it very seriously as well."
McLean cita la rimozione di videocamere prodotte in Cina dai palazzi pubblici australiani in nome della sicurezza, sostenendo che TikTok deve adempiere a dei requisiti imposti dal Partito Comunista Cinese su dati e informazione.
"Anything that is a Chinese owned entity is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party, and has to provide whatever they ask - now they come out and say that you know they don't and our data is held here and it doesn't go back there, but really you know, you've got to look here locally, the reality that the surveillance or the security cameras around the government buildings and now link back to China and they've all been pulled out - then I think there's something in it."
Luke Franchina è un influencer di TikTok con tre milioni e novecentomila followers.
Ha detto che non è soltanto Tiktok a raccogliere i dati.
"To be honest, I think uh, I used to be very concerned about my data, but being on social media, I think there's a lot of companies that take advantage of data and selling it. And so TikTok, in my mind, is just another company doing that. I think that a lot of this data that's already out there, a lot of the data that they're collecting is already out there somewhere and they could probably purchase it about me from a different place if they're not getting get it from TikTok."
Report by SBS News.
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