New Zealand lawmakers banned from TikTok amid data use fears
New Zealand lawmakers and other workers inside the nation’s Parliament will be banned from having the TikTok app on their government phones
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand lawmakers and other workers inside the nation's Parliament will be banned from having the TikTok app on their government phones, officials said Friday.
The ban, which takes effect at the end of the month, follows similar moves in many other countries.
However, New Zealand's ban will apply only to about 500 people in the parliamentary complex, not to all government workers like bans in the U.S. and Britain. Other New Zealand agencies could decide later to impose their own bans.
Global concern about the app comes after warnings by the FBI and other agencies that TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance could share TikTok user data — such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers — with China’s authoritarian government.
