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Indonesia urged to guarantee data security, not ape Western stance on TikTok
Despite Western countries’ push to restrict the social media platform TikTok over data and national security concerns, cybersecurity analysts suggest that Indonesia should not immediately jump on the bandwagon but instead look to guarantee Indonesia’s data security.
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The icon of video-sharing mobile phone application TikTok is pictured on a mobile phone used by an Afghan youth in Kabul, in this photo illustration taken on April 21, 2022, (AFP/Afghanistan/Wakil Kohsar)
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espite Western countries’ push to restrict the TikTok social media platform over data and national security concerns, cybersecurity analysts suggest that Indonesia should not immediately jump on the bandwagon but instead look to guarantee Indonesia’s data security.
Last Thursday, the United States Congress grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew over China’s allegedly wide-ranging influence over the platform, during which Chew denied that the app shares data or has connections with the Chinese Communist Party.
Some 20 US senators have also backed bipartisan legislation forging a path for US President Joe Biden’s administration to ban TikTok on national security grounds, news agencies have reported.
In February, the White House ordered US government agencies to remove TikTok from any federal devices and systems, while at least 30 US states have also banned the use of TikTok on government-owned devices.
Neighboring Canada has also placed a ban on TikTok in its own government-issued devices, citing security risks, while the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Union Council and several EU countries have banned TikTok on staff devices for cybersecurity reasons.
In June 2020, India completely banned TikTok along with 58 other Chinese-created apps, citing the data and privacy concerns of its citizens. The ban was also in place after a military clash between Indian and Chinese troops along their shared border region.
In July 2018, TikTok was temporarily banned in Indonesia over “pornography, inappropriate content and blasphemy.”
