At the risk of being killed by my daughters, we must ask if Australia should ban TikTok:
Australia should consider copying a move by the US House of Representatives to force Chinese company ByteDance to divest its social media app TikTok based on national security concerns.
That’s the view of top defence technology experts in Washington after the House voted 352 to 65 in favour of a bill that would ban app stores from distributing the social media phenomenon in America if its China-based owner doesn’t sell it.
No, says the Groveller:
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government has no intention to follow the US’ lead in banning TikTok, after Congress passed a bill forcing the company to sell to a non-Chinese firm or else face a nationwide ban.
The popular video-sharing app, which has more than 150 million American users, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance.
…US legislators contend that ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s consumers in the US any time it wants, posing a threat to national security.
I’m agnostic on this one.
What we should ban is WeChat, which is used by Beijing to control its diasporas and their influence on local politics.
But that won’t happen either under the Groveller’s watch. WeChat openly campaigned for him at the last election and helped swing all ethnic Chinese seats his way.
We still don’t even know who Labor’s Chinese spy is!
