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Opinion | In Australia, concerns mount that China could use TikTok to spy on users
- Hypothetically, the app could enable Chinese authorities to use biometric data to identify people using facial recognition
- It could also be possible to map rooms and locations by using ‘feature extraction’ on videos
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Why you can trust SCMP
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In an age of isolation, video-sharing platform TikTok has emerged as a bonding force for many. But recent headlines allege the service, owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance, is feeding users’ data to the Chinese Communist Party.
An Australian newspaper, the Herald Sun, this week reported that an unnamed federal MP was pushing for the app to be banned.
Following suit, Liberal Senator Jim Molan said TikTok was being “used and abused” by the Chinese government, while Labor Senator Jenny McAllister called on TikTok’s representatives to face the Select Committee on Foreign Interference Through Social Media.
TikTok has denied the accusations and rebuffed suggestions it should be banned in Australia. But why is the federal government examining this app so closely? And could it really be a tool used by the Chinese government to spy on Australians?
A growing following
TikTok has amassed a reported 2 billion downloads worldwide and its Australian market is also significant. It has an estimated 1.6 million Australian users, mostly aged 16-24 but with a growing number of older users too.
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