Communist party accessed TikTok data of Hong Kong protesters, former executive alleges

Ruling party accessed user data including Sim card ID and IP addresses, former executive alleges in legal filing

A former executive at TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has alleged that the Chinese Communist party accessed user data from the social video app belonging to Hong Kong protesters and civil rights activists.

Yintao Yu, a former head of engineering at ByteDance’s US operation, claimed in a legal filing that a committee of Communist party members accessed TikTok data that included the users’ network information, Sim card identifications and IP addresses in a bid to identify the individuals and their locations.

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TikTok Australia expands trial of gambling advertising despite widespread criticism

Two more companies can now run ads targeting young people and women on social media platform

Australian social media users will see more sports gambling ads after TikTok quietly expanded a controversial trial of wagering partnerships despite widespread criticism.

The decision to increase ads could undermine any federal government action to restrict broadcast promotions, with researchers warning that gambling companies are one step ahead of regulators and are targeting new demographics.

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Hyundai and Kia settle lawsuit worth $200m over vehicle theft due to TikTok

A trend on the app, which started spreading in 2021, challenged users to steal cars made by the automakers using a USB cable

Hyundai and Kia have agreed to settle a consumer class-action lawsuit worth $200m over rampant thefts of the vehicles because of a TikTok trend.

In February, the Korean automakers said they would offer software upgrades to 8.3m US vehicles to help curb a stark increase in thefts using a method popularized on TikTok and other social media channels.

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Montana becomes first US state to ban TikTok

Greg Gianforte, the governor, signed legislation prohibiting mobile app stores from offering the video-sharing platform by next year

Montana has became the first US state to ban TikTok after the governor signed legislation prohibiting mobile application stores from offering the app within the state by next year.

The move is among the most dramatic in a series of US escalations against TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance. TikTok has come under increasing scrutiny over its ties to China, amid concerns that such links could pose a national security threat.

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Australian government resists blanket WeChat ban despite restrictions by multiple departments

Several federal departments already banning Chinese communications app after decision on TikTok in early April

The Australian government is resisting issuing a ban on WeChat on government devices despite many government departments instituting their own bans after the TikTok edict earlier this month.

TikTok was banned from government devices in early April over data collection and security concerns connected to the Chinese government.

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TikTok data collection could reveal what floor a user is on, cybersecurity firm says

Australian-US company Internet 2.0 says social media app now seeks users’ altitude information, according to source code

The Australian-US cybersecurity company that last year revealed the extent of TikTok’s data collection says the social media company has increased what location information it collects to include altitude, which could tell it what floor of a building a user is on.

Last year Internet 2.0 released a study on the data TikTok attempts to collect on user devices, which includes contact lists and calendars, and its scanning of hard drives and geolocating devices on an hourly basis.

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TikTok must divest itself of Chinese ownership or face ban, FCC commissioner tells Australian inquiry

Company accused of ‘gaslighting’ public on surveillance concerns during Senate inquiry into foreign influence through social media

TikTok will either need to divest itself from Chinese ownership or face a ban in the United States, according to the commissioner of the US federal communications commission, Brendan Carr, who accused the company of “gaslighting” the public on surveillance concerns.

Appearing before the Australian Senate inquiry into foreign influence through social media, the Trump appointee said concern about TikTok in the US was “broad and deep”, and crossed party lines.

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Company advertising and selling bubblegum-flavoured cannabis vape products in Australia under investigation

Exclusive: Ethically Enhanced website sold Hubba Bubba-flavoured vapes containing cannabidiol, as owner of bubblegum brand considers legal action

A company advertising brightly packaged Hubba Bubba-flavoured cannabis vape products to Australians through sponsored TikTok posts and selling them without checking for ID or requiring a prescription is being investigated by the country’s drug regulator.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration confirmed it was investigating the content and owners of the Ethically Enhanced website, which sells vapes containing cannabidiol under the name Temple CBD Australia. A TGA spokesperson said the regulator would now “determine the most appropriate regulatory action”.

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Cracking method or recipe for disaster? The science behind Senator Helen Polley’s TikTok microwave egg-in-foil hack

The Labor senator says she’s been boiling eggs wrapped in foil in the microwave for 25 years or more, ‘and I’ve never had a mishap’

Labor senator Helen Polley has raised eyebrows with an unusual technique for cooking hardboiled eggs.

In an “egg hack” video posted to TikTok, the Tasmanian senator completely wrapped a raw egg in aluminium foil, submerged it in a plastic container of water, and said she microwaved it for six to seven minutes for a hard boil.

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TikTok can still access data from Australian government devices via app on personal phones, academic warns

Data sharing between platforms could limit effectiveness of social media app’s ban from government devices

TikTok could still access information held on Australian government devices if public servants and politicians continue to use the app on their personal mobile devices, according to a legal academic from the University of New South Wales.

Dr Katharine Kemp, who focuses on consumer law and has researched a wide variety of privacy policies for digital apps, said the loophole could limit the effectiveness of the ban on TikTok from government devices.

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As the west tries to limit TikTok’s reach, what about China’s other apps?

With government concerns over national security growing, Beijing’s influence over platforms such as WeChat and Shein could come under scrutiny

As TikTok, the world’s most popular app, comes under increasing scrutiny in response to data privacy and security concerns, lawmakers in the west may soon set their sights on other Chinese platforms that have gone global.

TikTok was built by ByteDance as a foreign version of its popular domestic video-sharing platform, Douyin. But it is far from being ByteDance’s only overseas moneymaker. The Chinese company owns dozens of apps that are available overseas, many of them English-language versions of Chinese offerings.

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Pat Dodson takes leave from Senate – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

Former Tasmanian Liberal premier condemns party’s opposition to voice

Tasmania is the last Liberal state government left in the country and its former premier has taken to social media this morning to speak out against the federal party’s decision to oppose the voice to parliament.

Should the Liberal party maintain its opposition to the voice it will simply accelerate its increasing irrelevance.

I have asked for Cyber Security NSW to issue advice to NSW government employees, to implement this change as soon as possible.

I will no longer be using TikTok.

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Australia news live: Peter Dutton confirms Liberals will campaign against Indigenous voice to parliament

Opposition leader continues his narrative of calling the proposal a ‘divisive Canberra voice’. Follow the day’s news

Birmingham calls for end to culture wars on ‘fringe issues’

So Simon Birmigham wants the party to modernise, but keep its Liberal values. So essentially ditch the culture wars and get back to Liberal basics – small government, small business, families (although Birmingham argues for inclusive family support now).

Well, it is, in that it concerns only a relatively small numbers of people, frankly, on either side of the debate. And so having, in the lead-up to the Aston byelection, debate ensuing in the Victorian division of the Liberal party around trans rights, Nazis, all of those sorts of things that were being thrown around, was clearly very, very counterproductive.

And I think that’s acknowledged right across the leadership of the Liberal party. And so trying to make sure that, whilst there has to be space to deal with issues where international sporting organisations are making rules and laws, but we shouldn’t take that into into a realm where suddenly there are public protests supported by Liberal MPs or anything that suggests there is a sense of disrespect other than careful, thoughtful policy consideration.

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ABC to review use of TikTok after app banned from Australian government devices

Ban only applies to non-corporate government entities but may have flow-on effects to other agencies and businesses

The ABC is reviewing its use of TikTok following the federal government’s ban of the Chinese-owned social media app on government-issued devices.

The ban announced by the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, on Tuesday only applies to non-corporate government entities, meaning a range of government-owned businesses and agencies are not subject to the ban, including the ABC, SBS, Australia Post and NBN Co.

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Australia news live: seizure of $270m worth of heroin is Queensland’s biggest; RBA interest rates decision due

Australians will find out at 2.30pm AEST whether the Reserve Bank will pause its interest rates hikes after 10 consecutive rises. Follow the day’s news live

Australia’s new high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, says becoming a republic is “inevitable” even if Australians are proud to have the British monarch as their head of state.

In his first interview since taking up the post, Smith told the Times newspaper that most British people would be “indifferent” to Australia getting rid of the monarchy and it would not damage the countries’ relationship.

There is a lot of affection and respect for the monarchy in Australia.

That affection and respect hasn’t gone away because of Australia contemplating from time to time what it should do about its constitutional arrangements.

My personal view is it’s inevitable. But how that’s progressed is entirely a matter for the Australian government of the day.

Our public-sector workers do a great job serving their fellow Victorians and we’re proud to support them. In addition to wage increases, workers will be able to obtain a sign-on bonus while productivity improvements will bring the potential for further advancement of conditions.

The policy provides fair outcomes for employees while being responsible as we deal with the types of budget challenges faced by families, businesses and governments across the world.

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Australia-wide ban of TikTok on government devices announced as senior politicians quit the app

Prohibition of Chinese social media app follows similar bans in other western countries

The Australian government has banned the use of Chinese social media app TikTok on government devices, following similar bans in other western countries.

The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said he had authorised the secretary of his department to issue a mandatory direction to prohibit the TikTok app on devices issued by commonwealth departments and agencies.

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Norwegian company says TikTok data centre is limiting energy for manufacturing Ukraine ammunition

Head of Norwegian manufacturer Nammo says plans to increase production at its largest factory are affected by demands of nearby data centre

One of Europe’s largest ammunition manufacturers has said efforts to meet surging demand from the war in Ukraine have been stymied by a new TikTok data centre that is monopolising electricity in the region close to its biggest factory.

The chief executive of Nammo, which is co-owned by the Norwegian government, said a planned expansion of its largest factory in central Norway hit a roadblock due to a lack of surplus energy, with the construction of TikTok’s new data centre using up electricity in the local area.

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White House ‘very in favor’ of bill thought to target TikTok

Platform has drawn close congressional scrutiny because the data of users could be available to the government of China

One of the authors of a Senate bill that would enable the federal commerce department to ban technologies with links to foreign governments has said that the Joe Biden White House is “very in favor” of the measure, but he stopped short of saying whether the president’s administration has discussed possibly prohibiting the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok in particular.

Appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday morning, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia said that the proposed legislation has also picked up support in his congressional chamber from 11 Democrats – of which he is one – as well as 11 Republicans.

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TikTok hearing: CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before US Congress amid looming ban – as it happened

App’s future in doubt as Biden administration threatens to ban it entirely in the country

Representative Diana DeGette is bringing up the WSJ report again and asking Chew for comment. He said that he’d have to get back to them because whether ByteDance would be forced to sell TikTok is still developing so he doesn’t have specifics but that Project Texas would protect US users no matter what.

“Does TikTok share user information … overseas?” Degette asked. Chew said in the past, yes but with Project Texas that would no longer be the case. He reiterated that the efforts to protect user data through Project Texas is more than any other company has done.

Representative Richard Hudson asked Chew about the reports that ByteDance employees have accessed user data of US journalists in order to investigate an internal leak of information. Chew says TikTok condemns this behavior.

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