TikTok’s rapid rise to the very top of the rankings has been marred somewhat by government intervention. The government of India banned TikTok as well as a number of other Chinese apps from offering services to its citizens. Australia is following suit with its own TikTok ban, although this is geared more towards devices that are used by members and employees of the federal government.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Australia isn’t the first country to implement such a ban. The nation is a member of a strategic alliance known as the Five Eyes which comprises itself, the US, New Zealand, Canada and the UK with all things having been considered and taken into account.
Australia is actually the last member of the Five Eyes alliance to enact such a ban, but in spite of the fact that this is the case plenty of other countries that are not part of this alliance have done so as well. Sweden, France and Belgium have also prohibited government employees from having the app because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing China to spy on them, ostensibly.
There are only 5 countries in the world that have actually enacted a blanket ban on TikTok, namely India, Afghanistan, Iran, Jordan and Bangladesh. The US is trying to join this club, even though many of the bans that were implemented were intended to be largely temporary for the most part.
There are many who are claiming that the US government’s attempts to ban TikTok constitute Sinophobia. Some have pointed to America’s home grown social media platforms like Facebook that have just as harmful data collection practices as TikTok yet are made exempt from any kind of serious scrutiny.
The intention might not be blatant anti-China bias, but rather a way to limit China’s power in the brewing new Cold War. Either way, the ban will have an enormous impact on the future of the app as well as the tech industry as a whole.
H/T: Statista
Read next: Here Are the Most Essential Digital Marketing Tools for 2023
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Australia isn’t the first country to implement such a ban. The nation is a member of a strategic alliance known as the Five Eyes which comprises itself, the US, New Zealand, Canada and the UK with all things having been considered and taken into account.
Australia is actually the last member of the Five Eyes alliance to enact such a ban, but in spite of the fact that this is the case plenty of other countries that are not part of this alliance have done so as well. Sweden, France and Belgium have also prohibited government employees from having the app because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing China to spy on them, ostensibly.
There are only 5 countries in the world that have actually enacted a blanket ban on TikTok, namely India, Afghanistan, Iran, Jordan and Bangladesh. The US is trying to join this club, even though many of the bans that were implemented were intended to be largely temporary for the most part.
There are many who are claiming that the US government’s attempts to ban TikTok constitute Sinophobia. Some have pointed to America’s home grown social media platforms like Facebook that have just as harmful data collection practices as TikTok yet are made exempt from any kind of serious scrutiny.
The intention might not be blatant anti-China bias, but rather a way to limit China’s power in the brewing new Cold War. Either way, the ban will have an enormous impact on the future of the app as well as the tech industry as a whole.
H/T: Statista
Read next: Here Are the Most Essential Digital Marketing Tools for 2023
