New Zealand has joined the growing list of countries and jurisdictions that have banned certain government agencies. Unlike elsewhere, the restriction does not apply to all government employees. It’s limited to devices that can access New Zealand’s parliamentary network, though the country’s defense force and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have said they’ve banned TikTok on work devices as well.
The ban will go into effect by the end of March. However, there may be exceptions for those who need access to TikTok to perform their functions.
Officials made the move following advice from cybersecurity experts and conversations between people in government and with other countries. "Based on this information, the Service has determined that the risks are unacceptable in the current New Zealand parliamentary environment,” said Parliamentary Service CEO Rafael González Montero. .
Chris Hipkins, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, shed some light on why the country has restricted the ban on devices linked to the parliamentary network. "Departments and agencies follow (Government Communications Security Bureau) advice regarding IT and cyber security policies… We do not have a blanket approach over the public sector approach," He said.
Earlier this week, the United Kingdom on government machinery. It said users of these devices will only be able to use third-party apps that are on an approved list. Over the past few months, dozens of countries have also banned TikTok on devices they own.
As with those other jurisdictions, New Zealand restricts government access to TikTok due to security concerns. Officials in several countries have expressed concern that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance (which is based in Beijing) may have to share sensitive user information, such as location data, with China for alleged national security reasons.
ByteDance said it would not share user data with China, but US officials claimed the company would legally comply if the government requested the information. TikTok has tried to allay privacy concerns in the US and Europe by directing traffic from each region to third parties and.
TikTok’s problems don’t end with bans from government agencies. This week, the company said that the US or TikTok could face a nationwide ban. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has it that if ByteDance liquidates his company, it won’t solve the security concerns of politicians and that data protection projects the company has set up in the US and Europe "are the real solutions." However, one whistleblower has claimed that it could theoretically allow China to access the data of American TikTok users anyway.
Meanwhile, reports this week indicated that the FBI and the Department of Justice after four employees used TikTok to spy on the locations of two American journalists. ByteDance (two of them are based in China and the others are in the US) in December, and said the individuals were trying to locate the sources of the leaks to reporters.
This article originally appeared on BanglaWebTools at https://www.BanglaWebTools.com/new-zealand-is-the-latest-country-to-ban-tiktok-from-government-devices-143539571.html?src=rss
