New Zealand Joins TikTok Ban Citing National Security Concerns

A new country is joining the US in its push to ban TikTok from official phones.

New Zealand recently announced it would ban the installation and use of TikTok on devices with access to its parliamentary network, citing national security concerns.

New Zealand follows Canada's inclusion to the list of countries banning TikTok due to national security concerns, with the latter country declaring that the app is to be removed and blocked from all government-issued mobile devices.

New Zealand TikTok Ban Details

New Zealand Parliamentary Service Chief Executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said that the risks related to the app were "not acceptable in the current environment," and that the ban will become effective on Mar. 31, per CNN.

According to Gonzalez-Montero, the decision to ban TikTok was made based on the analysis from the country's experts, along with the results of its discussion with its colleagues across the government and internationally.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins revealed that the experts Gonzalez-Montero refers to are from the country's intelligence agency, the Government Communication Bureau, per the Associated Press. He also mentioned that the New Zealand government didn't take a blanket approach to all government workers and that it would be up to each department or agency to make their own cybersecurity decisions, unlike the ban in the US, the UK, and Canada.

As such, New Zealand's ban on TikTok will only apply to the people in the parliamentary complex, which numbers around 500, and not to all government workers. However, a Reuters report mentioned that special arrangements could be made for people who require the app to do their jobs.

Currently, both New Zealand's defense force and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade have already implemented bans on TikTok on their work devices. A spokesperson for the New Zealand Defense Force stated in an email that the ban was a "precautionary approach" to protect its personnel's safety and security.

While TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have yet to comment on this development, the latter company previously explained that the recent bans against it were based on "fundamental misconceptions" and driven by wider geopolitics.

The spokesperson also stressed that the company spent more than $1.5 billion on "rigorous data security efforts" and rejects spying allegations.

Global Action Against TikTok

The first country to ban TikTok from its network was India, which banned the social media app and 100 other apps nationwide in 2020 to protect its sovereignty and due to national security concerns following military clashes with China at the border.

The next to ban TikTok from their network was the US during the Trump administration (though unsuccessful at the time), followed by the EU, the UK, Canada, and finally, New Zealand.

There are legitimate concerns regarding the possibility of TikTok doing more than just recommending funny videos for people to watch while on the app. TikTok employees were previously found to be capable of accessing data of American journalists, including their IP addresses.