‘Australia treated TikTok...’: China requests fair treatment after app is banned

Days after Australia announced it was banning TikTok on government devices in the country, China's commerce ministry has released a statement saying the decision was 'discriminatory' — one that harmed the interest of Australian businesses. It urged Canberra to look into the matter again and treat all firms fairly.

"Australia treated TikTok differently from other social media platforms and adopted discriminatory restrictive measures, which are not conducive to maintaining Australia's national security," read the statement.

"We urge the Australian side to earnestly abide by the rules of the market economy and the principles of fair competition, and provide Chinese companies with a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment."

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing had "lodged stern representations with the Australian side".

Notably, earlier this week, reports stated that Australia had joined the likes of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand amongst others in banning the short-video app. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus informed the decision was taken after receiving advice from the country's intelligence agencies.

"TikTok poses significant security and privacy risks to non-corporate commonwealth entities arising from extensive collection of user data and exposure to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government that conflict with Australian law," read Australia'sprotective security direction.

TikTok Australia's General Manager Lee Hunter in a statement said that the company was “extremely disappointed” by the decision if confirmed.

“We stress that there is no evidence to suggest that TikTok is in any way a security risk to Australians and should not be treated differently to other social media platforms,” said Hunter, as per media reports.

In December last year, TikTok acknowledged that it has knowingly collected user data to spy on journalists.India was one of the first countries to issue a blanket ban on the Chinese app. Since then, more and more countries have joined the bandwagon and booted TikTok out.

Last month, US lawmakers said they were moving forward with the plan to impose a nationwide ban on the app, having already banned it on federal devices.

Kevin McCarthy, the US House of Representatives speaker said the lawmakers were moving ahead to address the national security concerns posed by the app, alleging that the Chinese government had access to users' data.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: