January 21, 2025
The Coalition has called on the Albanese government to coordinate with the Trump administration on Australia’s policy approach to TikTok, after the incoming US leader promised to save the app from a ban.
TikTok’s services were restored for some 170 million users across the United States on Sunday after US President-elect Donald Trump promised to give the app a 90-day reprieve from an effective ban that briefly saw TikTok go dark for users in the US.
Trump, in a post to Truth Social early Monday, said he would issue an executive order on his first day in office extending the period before a law — unanimously upheld by the US Supreme Court — would be enforced, banning the app for US users. He also suggested the US could take 50% ownership of the platform through a joint venture.
The opposition’s home affairs spokesman, James Paterson, reiterated calls on Monday for Labor to follow the US in its effort to introduce new divestiture obligations for TikTok in Australia, as the app’s availability in the US remains in flux.
“The Albanese government should closely coordinate our response with the incoming US administration to ensure Australians can also continue to use a safer version of TikTok,” Paterson told Capital Brief.
“The [Australian] government should clarify whether it intends to follow our US ally in acting to make TikTok safer. If Americans will have access to a safer version of the app that protects their data and prevents foreign interference on the platform, then Australians should as well.”
The federal government declined to answer questions about the implications that a US ban on TikTok would have for the app’s users in Australia. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the government is “closely monitoring” the situation.
“We’ve already taken strong action to restrict access to various pieces of software on devices that handle sensitive information,” a spokesperson for Burke told Capital Brief.
“We’re closely monitoring the situation in the US and will continue to take action here in line with advice from our intelligence agencies.”
TikTok has become a primary source of information and entertainment for a growing cohort of more than 8.5 million Australian users. As a result, the platform has become a focus of the major parties in the lead-up to the 2025 federal election.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has recently ramped up his efforts on the platform. He currently has roughly 24,200 followers, and one video has clocked more than 1.2 million views, despite persistent Coalition calls for TikTok to face restrictions if owner ByteDance does not sell the app.
Other Coalition, Labor and Greens MPs are also on the platform, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, Labor MP Julian Hill, Coalition MP Keith Wolahan, and Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, among others.
Sunday’s brief TikTok shutdown came as the result of a near 12-month political effort in the US, triggered by national security concerns over whether the Beijing-based ByteDance could be compelled to share the data of US citizens with Chinese authorities.
In April last year, outgoing US President Joe Biden signed into law an effective ban on TikTok if ByteDance did not sell the app.
TikTok moved to appeal the law, which was unanimously upheld by the US Supreme Court in a landmark decision over the weekend. The effective ban was characterised by the app’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, as “arbitrary censorship.”