March 19, 2023
Keeping up with the latest dance trends on company time is hardly conducive to productivity, so it is difficult to see why the average public servant would need TikTok on a work phone.
It therefore follows the ACT government need not think too hard before deciding whether to bar most of its employees from having the video app on devices funded by the taxpayer.
Governments in the United Kingdom, European Union and North America have banned the social media platform on their phones in light of concerns about user data being harvested by the Chinese government.
Australian governments are now in the process of considering similar moves, with the Department of Home Affairs expected to imminently finalise a review of the risks posed by social media apps.
While Chief Minister Andrew Barr has said the ACT government will "listen to the advice" and remove the app from any phones it issues employees if told that should happen, he is "not waging a war against TikTok".
There are many reasons why, until the full picture is presented, it would be prudent for the territory government to advise its public servants to remove the app from devices issued for work purposes.
With the exception of public servants whose roles revolve around social media, or areas like tourism, it is difficult to imagine why a person would need the app on a government-issued device.
Those desperate to have the platform need to expend minimal energy to simply download it on a personal phone instead.
A personal phone is far less likely to contain government documents or other material that would likely be of interest to any so-called "bad actors" who may be using TikTok as a "back door" into a device.
The latest wave of data security concerns surrounding the app have not emerged without good reason.
It was revealed late last year TikTok employees had spied on a Forbes journalist in an attempt to identify her sources after she published a series of exposes on the app.
Nearly half of Australia's federal government agencies have already banned TikTok on devices they issue, despite there being no blanket prohibition.
Liberal senator James Paterson has previously called for a blanket ban on the installation of TikTok on federal government devices, warning Australia was "falling dangerously behind" other countries.
"I hope the [federal] government is not tolerating unacceptable national security risks for the sake of a bilateral relationship," Senator Paterson said earlier this month.
His concern about the nation's "haphazard" approach should be heeded.
