New Zealand bans TikTok on government-related devices

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New Zealand bans TikTok on government-related devices

WELLINGTON: New Zealand has banned access to the country's parliamentary network due to cybersecurity concerns, making it the latest nation to restrict the use of the video-sharing app on government-related devices.

Concerns have been raised about the possibility that the Chinese government could access users' location and contact data through ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company.

The depth of those concerns was highlighted this week when the Biden administration demanded that TikTok's Chinese owners divest their stakes or the app could face a US ban.

In New Zealand, TikTok will be banned on all devices with access to parliament's network by the end of March.

The decision was taken after the advice of cybersecurity experts and discussions within government and with other countries, according to the Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero.

He said that the risks are not acceptable in the current New Zealand Parliamentary environment because of the information that the Service has determined.

He said special arrangements can be made for those who require the app to do their jobs.

The app was banned from the UK on March 16 with immediate effect on government phones. The app can be removed from official devices in the US until the end of March.

TikTok has said it believes the bans are based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics, and that it has spent more than 1.5 billion on rigorous data security efforts and rejects spying allegations.