TikTok Australia head says app is not a ‘national security risk’ after US Senate passes bill to force sale
The general manager, global business solutions, for TikTok Australia, Brett Armstrong, has responded to recent news from the US that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance will be forced to either sell off the social media platform to an American-owned company, or face a bill in the States.
Per the Sydney Morning Herald, the bill passed the US Senate 79-18 on Wednesday, and will now go to President Joe Biden, who has already indicated he will sign it as soon as it lands on his desk.
ByteDance now has just nine months to sell TikTok to an American company, with a three-month extension in play should a deal be pending. This forced sale acts to prevent the possibility of the Chinese government strongarming ByteDance into giving up sensitive information about US citizens.
“Congress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok or any other individual company,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell said.
“Congress is acting to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our US government personnel.”
Armstrong, who leads TikTok’s Australian business, said: “TikTok is a platform that is loved by over 8.5 million Australians and 350,000 Australian businesses, with a recent independent study by Oxford Economics finding that we contribute $1.1b and 13,000 jobs to the Australian economy.
“There is zero evidence suggesting that TikTok is in any way a national security risk, and we welcome the Prime Minister’s recent comments that his Government has no plans to ban us.”
Of course, as Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, pointed out, “This is the beginning, not the end of this long process,” with the Chinese company preparing a lawsuit to block the legislation.
“At the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge,” Beckerman warned.
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Nathan Jolly is the Deputy Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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You are naive if you think that TikTok user data is not being shared with the CCP.
What concerns me more is the impact the platform has on our youth’s mental health. Quite literally eroding their ability to pay attention and focus (anyone who manages or parents Gen Z can attest) whilst contributing to the growing levels of anxiety and depression in our children.
There’s a reason why they don’t allow the same content on the app in China.
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Australia is part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance and houses the most important US intelligence base in the Southern Hemisphere. We’re also part of AUKUS and ANZUS.
All Biden has to do is insist that we ban TikTok on the grounds of it being a security issue (And he will) and our Government will quickly get in line and do so.
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