New Zealand bans TikTok from MPs’ machines

Posted in: 03/17/2023 – 05:16

New Zealand will ban Chinese social network TikTok from MPs’ devices, officials told AFP on Friday, following in the footsteps of other Western countries that have taken similar measures.

Rafael Gonzalez Montero, a parliamentary official, said the ban will affect all devices that have access to the parliamentary network. It will enter into force on March 31.

According to Rafael Gonzalez Montero, the stakes are “unacceptable in the current parliamentary environment in New Zealand”. “The decision was taken on the basis of our experts’ analyzes after discussion with our colleagues in the government and at the international level,” he added.

American threats

Therefore, New Zealand will follow the path already taken by Canada, the United Kingdom and US federal agencies, which have already banned TikTok from government agencies due to data security concerns. The European Commission has also ordered the video-sharing app to be banned from its employees’ devices.

Global action against TikTok began in India in 2020. The social network was on the list of banned apps after bloody clashes on the border with China, with New Delhi called on to defend its sovereignty. The same year, former President Donald Trump accused TikTok of being an espionage tool for Beijing.

TikTok has acknowledged that employees of its parent company, ByteDance, in China have gained access to Americans’ account information, but has always refused to pass that data on to the authorities.

The current President of the United States, Joe Biden, for his part, recently threatened to completely ban the app from the territory, if it does not break away from ByteDance.

With Agence France-Presse