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Amid ban recommendations from foreign governments, TikTok security risks against Australian lawmakers who download the social media app it on their work phones have not yet been looked into.
Officials from the Department of Parliamentary Services admitted they hadn’t advised lawmakers or their staff to avoid downloading the Chinese-owned platform on their work-issued phones.
Liberal senator James Paterson, a former chair of the intelligence and security committee, questioned officials during a Senate estimates committee hearing on Monday afternoon and said that the American and New Zealand parliaments had actively forbade the use of TikTok on official equipment.
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A clause prohibiting the use of the social media app on work phones was approved by the US Senate in a vote in June.
The chief information security officer of the DPS responded that he was aware of the direction from outside but hadn’t gotten similar suggestions from Australian security agencies when questioned why the department hadn’t offered similar advise.
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Toby Amodio told the hearing, “We haven’t received an equivalent level of advice to us that would warrant us to be providing that advice directly to parliamentarians.”
When two other agencies, home affairs and defense, told their staff members not to use the program on their provided phones, Senator Paterson questioned why DPS hadn’t done the same.
Amodio claimed that neither DPS nor TikTok had advised lawmakers to use social media apps on a different personal phone, nor had TikTok been evaluated for any potential concerns.
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
