A local parliamentary official said Friday that New Zealand is banning the use of the TikTok app, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, on IT devices of lawmakers and staff, following the decision of other Western countries.
Rafael Gonzalez Montero said the ban affects all devices that have access to the parliamentary network.
The restriction goes into effect on March 31.
According to the spokesperson, the stakes are not acceptable in the current New Zealand parliamentary environment. he added,
We made the decision based on our own expert analysis, after discussing it with our colleagues working in government and internationally.
New Zealand follows in the footsteps of Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, among others, which have already banned the use of TikTok on government devices due to data security concerns. The European Commission and European Parliament also banned their staff from using the app.
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This practice is spreading more widely. |
The global campaign on TikTok started in India in 2020. The video-sharing app was added to the list of banned apps after the bloody clashes on the border with China, New Delhi at the time claimed it was protecting its sovereignty.
In the same year, former US President Donald Trump accused TikTok of being used by Beijing for espionage.
TikTok has acknowledged that employees of its parent company, ByteDance in China, have access to Americans’ account information, but has always refused to hand over the data to authorities.
And the current US President, Joe Biden, has threatened to Block the app completely From the state, if you do not separate from the Chinese property background.
