New Zealand Ban TikTok on Legislators’ Devices
According to officials, New Zealand will prohibit the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from being used on MPs’ devices, making it the fourth Western country to take action in response to security concerns over the platform.
According to Parliamentary Service CEO Rafael Gonzalez-Montero, TikTok would be prohibited on all devices that have access to the legislative network.
On March 31, the prohibition will go into effect.
The dangers were “not acceptable in the current New Zealand Parliamentary environment,” according to Gonzalez-Montero, he continued by saying, “Our decision has been founded on our own professional research and conversation with colleagues across government and globally.”
In response to cyber security worries that data could be read by officials in China, New Zealand has joined Canada, Britain, and the United States in barring the popular software on devices provided by the government.
Moreover, TikTok has been removed from the devices of the European Commission’s staff.
In India in 2020, TikTok’s global demise began in earnest.
After fatal skirmishes on the border between India and China, New Delhi said it was preserving its sovereignty when it blocked this and other Chinese apps.
The same year, TikTok was charged with spying for China by US President Donald Trump.
Although TikTok has acknowledged ByteDance personnel in China had access to information about US accounts, it has consistently refuted providing data to the Chinese government.
Joseph Biden, the vice president in the US, has threatened to outright ban the app until TikTok splits from ByteDance.
