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New Zealand's parliament will effectively ban Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from the phones of MPs over cybersecurity concerns.
Key points:
- New Zealand says it will ban TikTok on devices with access to its parliamentary network
- Researchers have told Australian politicians the app is connected "beyond doubt" to the Chinese government
- TikTok's parent company insists such concerns are based on "misinformation"
The move comes a day after British authorities said they were banning TikTok from government mobile phones on security grounds, following similar moves by the United States.
In a statement, New Zealand's Parliamentary Service chief executive, Rafael Gonzalez-Montero, said TikTok would be "removed from all devices with access to the parliamentary network", but arrangements would be made for staff who needed to use TikTok "to perform their democratic duties".
"This decision has been made based on our own experts' analysis and following discussion with our colleagues across government and internationally," he said.
"Based on this information the service has determined that the risks are not acceptable in the current New Zealand parliamentary environment."
The ban is expected to take place at the end of March.
TikTok has faced scrutiny over concerns that user data collected by the app and its Chinese parent company ByteDance could be accessed by the Chinese government.
The company insists that such concerns are based on "misinformation", while China's foreign ministry says the US is using data security as an excuse to slow a successful foreign company.
Australian politicians warned of TikTok's 'proven' ties to Chinese government
It comes as a group of researchers has warned politicians examining foreign interference in Australia that TikTok is connected "beyond doubt" to China's state organs.
In a submission to the federal parliament's select committee on foreign interference, ex-government official John Garnaut, national committee on US–China relations member Matthew Johnson, Chinese risk analyst Prudence Luttrell and an anonymised researcher documented in detail the latent possibility for TikTok to be used to spread disinformation.
The group said it had debunked TikTok's claim that it operates separately to ByteDance and that its data cannot be accessed under Chinese national intelligence laws.
"Our research confirms beyond any plausible doubt that TikTok is owned by ByteDance, ByteDance is a PRC [People's Republic of China] company, and ByteDance is subject to all the influence, guidance and de facto control to which the Chinese Communist Party now subjects all PRC technology companies," the researchers submitted.
"The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] and PRC state agencies have extended their ties into ByteDance to the point that the company can no longer be accurately described as a private enterprise."
A spokesperson for TikTok told Nine newspapers the submission was "wild speculation about conspiracies" and denied Chinese government interference at the company.
The foreign interference inquiry is examining TikTok as overseas bureaucracies are imposing bans on the app on government devices, and the US mulls a countrywide ban.
Shadow minister for cybersecurity James Paterson told RN Breakfast the submission "utterly shatters" TikTok's claims of independence.
He said the app threatened to spread misinformation and pro-CCP material in Australia.
"It should be banned from government devices, as the United States, Canada, the European Union, United Kingdom and many other governments have done," he said.
Several Australian government departments and agencies have banned TikTok from their devices, but there is no public-service-wide rule. Mr Paterson said there should be.
"I don't understand why the Albanese government hasn't followed our closest allies and partners around the world who regard it as such an unacceptable risk that it must be banned from all government devices. That should have happened yesterday," he said.
He said he hoped the government would take part in any action the US may take in demanding that ByteDance divest its stake in TikTok.
Researchers say Chinese government carried out 'infiltration' of TikTok
The authors behind the select committee submission said while TikTok's potential use for state surveillance was a risk, their greatest concern was that it could be used by China to sway elections abroad and corrode faith in democracy.
They claimed that Chinese President Xi Jinping had used TikTok to "meticulously" build a platform that could micro-target political constituencies outside of China.
"[ByteDance's] status began to change in 2017, when it launched TikTok and acquired [social media service] Musical.ly," the authors wrote.
"The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) commenced a program of co-option, infiltration, and legal and extra-legal coercion."
The researchers said as ByteDance launched TikTok, Beijing simultaneously began a six-year regulatory campaign to build communist party control systems inside ByteDance, integrating its corporate leaders into China's "public opinion guidance" regime.
The authors pointed to statements made by ByteDance's founder in 2018, where after pressure from Beijing he apologised for the company's "lack of education on socialist core values", and promised to strengthen party-building work, and to deepen cooperation with "authoritative media" and the "powerful transmission of authoritative voices".
Since March of last year ByteDance has also been subject to information laws that require algorithms to "uphold the mainstream value orientation … actively disseminate positive energy and promote the use of algorithms for good".
Authors find senior staff shared across TikTok and Chinese counterpart
The group also used now-deleted online records to demonstrate TikTok shared many of the same corporate leaders as well as technical and human resources, as its Chinese analogue Douyin, which is subject to strict state controls.
They argued that made it impossible that TikTok could operate independently of ByteDance.
TikTok says the app is operated separately from Douyin, but the authors claim that Douyin's head of operations, its chief executive, and algorithm and e-commerce leads all held similar roles in TikTok.
ByteDance's editor-in-chief Zhang Fuping previously made public appearances as the company's communist party secretary, and was a former vice-president of the state media outlet Beijing Times.
The researchers argued Xi Jinping has spelled out his intention to use the app to exert influence, pointing to public statements in 2021 where he called for China to "allow short video platforms to become 'megaphones' for telling Chinese stories" and instructions to colleagues to target other countries with "precise communication methods" to expand China's influence.
"We assess as high the risk that the [CCP] will seek to leverage the company’s innovative algorithms and access to key data to develop its own big data harvesting and analysis capabilities for targeted propaganda and political interference," the authors wrote.
The authors did not recommend any action for the Australian government but made the submission to assist the foreign interference committee in its operation.
In response to suggestions that US regulators may seek to force ByteDance to divest from TikTok, the authors said Beijing would likely forcefully oppose that option, including possibly by imposing export controls on its algorithms.
US research found last year that TikTok may have suppressed videos related to voting in the US midterm elections, including politically neutral content on how to vote.
ByteDance was also forced to admit late last year that some of its staff had used the app to spy on journalists who were critical of the company.
TikTok has repeatedly denied links to the CCP, and denied that Australian data can be accessed by Beijing under its national intelligence laws, and parent company ByteDance has denied that it operates any products related to surveillance.