The Federal Government has enforced a TikTok ban on all government-issued devices, citing security risks posed by the Chinese-owned app.

Prime Minister Albanese has now signed off on the ban after lengthy considerations, which will come into effect as soon as practicable.

Federal Government employees are already prohibited from using TikTok in the US, Canada and the European Union.

Before the announcement was made, Attorney General Mark Dreyfus told 9News Australia that the government wanted to consider advice from agencies before a decision was made.

“We will be taking a decision that is in the best interest of the Australian public, and in the best interest of national security,” he said at the time.

TikTok Australia’s general manager, Lee Hunter, said he wasn’t kept in the loop about the final decision on the ban.

“We are finding out about this through the media, we’ve had repeated attempts to try and meet with the government about this, but unfortunately it’s very disappointing what’s happening so far,” he said.

According to 9News, Hunter said that these actions are being undertaken without any evidences to support the fact that TikTok is posing a “national security risk in any way”. He suggests that the decision is being driven by politics and not by fact.

NSW was the first to consider banning the app on government phones back in March.

There have been differences in opinion on the ban, including The Greens, who suggested that government are missing a larger problem around online platforms and data harvesting.

The risks followed after worldwide accusations that the Chinese Government were using the platform to spy, however, there is yet to be any evidence of such a threat.

Photo: TikTok II by Focal Foto available HERE and used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not not been modified.