Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil’s TikTok and WeChat accounts have both disappeared, following warnings by the Labor frontbencher about the data practices of the former app.
O’Neil has used both the Chinese short-video and messaging apps in her work as a parliamentarian in the past.
On TikTok, a cached version of her account shows O’Neil had more than 1200 followers and posted at least 31 videos as recently as 20 May, the day before the past federal election. O’Neil had reportedly used WeChat from at least as far back as 2019 until this year.
It’s not clear whether O’Neil deleted the accounts or if they were removed for other reasons. O’Neil’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
ASPI International Cyber Policy Centre China analyst Fergus Ryan said that if they were deleted by choice, it’s a “positive sign that the cybersecurity minister is taking the risks of TikTok seriously”.
There’s been increasing scrutiny of TikTok and how the incredibly popular app collects and distributes data from its hundreds of millions of users. A June report from BuzzFeed News claimed that Chinese employees of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, were accessing data from America. In July, TikTok Australia confirmed that Chinese employees would be able to access Australians’ data from the app.
The same can be assumed for WeChat data, which is subject to the same Chinese national intelligence law that compels any Chinese citizen to “support national intelligence work”.
How TikTok and social media platforms influence politics
Ryan cited the censorship of former prime minister Scott Morrison’s WeChat account as an example of how control of social media platforms can influence politics.
“[The risk] extends to the very real possibility that the Chinese Communist Party will use its leverage over TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to manipulate political discourse on the app,” he said.
O’Neil has previously raised concerns about the extent of information collected by social media apps like TikTok.
“Australians need to be mindful of the fact that they are sharing a lot of detailed information about themselves with apps that aren’t properly protecting that information. I hope it concerns Australians because it certainly concerns me,” she said in July.
Earlier this month, The Australian Financial Review reported that the intelligence and cybersecurity agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, had briefed MPs to warn them about the data collection practices of social media apps — not mentioning anyone by name — and encouraging them to use a second mobile phone to run their accounts.
Ryan says that TikTok presents a distinct risk from other platforms that goes beyond just data collection.
“Chinese information operations take place on all social media apps. There is no reason to think that they would not also be taking place on TikTok,” he said.
“The difference is that Facebook, Twitter, etc have taken some steps to expose this activity on their platforms. TikTok has not done this yet, as far as I am aware.”
