December 16, 2022
Australia needs to reform its privacy laws to manage the risk of Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, the head of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security says, although he has stopped short of calling for a ban similar to that before the US congress.
Peter Khalil’s comments followed Republican and Democrat members of congress endorsing a new bill this week that would prevent Americans from accessing social media companies controlled or influenced by China or Russia, while states such as Alabama and Utah banned TikTok from state government devices.
Australian MPs were warned earlier this year by the Australian Signals Directorate not to download apps that harvested excessive amounts of data, such as TikTok, on their work phones.
Mr Khalil said he had serious concerns about TikTok and Australians needed to be fully informed about the dangers of the app. “We need to strike the right balance between protecting the rights of the individual to make their own decisions and implementing safeguards to protect the community and their data from foreign interference,” he told The Australian.
“In addition to reforming privacy laws, there also needs to be a greater focus on better informing Australians about data and privacy. Not only does this require greater transparency about how data is being used but greater education so Australians can make informed choices about their online engagement.”
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil earlier this year tasked her department to investigate the risks of TikTok and the way it harvested data, and confirmed that advice would be provided to her in “early 2023”.
“Our work is already well under way. My department is reviewing security challenges associated with social media companies,” she said.
“I strongly recommend that all Australians ensure they are well informed about what data an app may be accessing and how it can be used online.”
A parliamentary inquiry into foreign interference through social media was re-established last month to consider the dangers of apps such as TikTok before providing recommendations to the government in August. Committee chair James Patterson said Australia needed to pay close attention to moves in the US to ban TikTok.
“The action in the US against TikTok on a bipartisan basis demonstrates why Australia should take this problem very seriously,” he said. “All social media platforms pose some risk, and social media platforms headquartered in authoritarian countries like TikTok and WeChat pose significant risk, and TikTok in particular is unique because of its breadth of coverage.”
When asked if Australia needed to consider its own ban on TikTok, as the US currently was, Mr Patterson said “we need to keep all options on the table”.
It comes as the eSafety Commissioner warned this month that algorithms used on platforms such as TikTok were potentially pushing children towards extreme content.
