The Director-General of the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy, has approved a policy for the use of the social media platform TikTok in the Public Service.
Director-General, Clare O’Connor said the policy had been developed to help Government Departments manage risks associated with the use of TikTok.
“The policy is aligned to the Federal Government direction on the use of TikTok on Government-owned devices,” Ms O’Connor said.
She said that under the policy, the installation and use of the TikTok Application on any Government-provided information and communication technology services, facilities and devices is generally prohibited.
This includes, but is not limited to, smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops.
Under the policy, Agencies must ensure that the TikTok application is not installed on any Government-owned device and must prohibit installation of the TikTok application on all new Government-owned devices.
Agencies must also ensure the TikTok application is removed on all existing Government-owned devices.
“Where the Agency’s accountable officer determines there is a legitimate business reason to have the TikTok application installed on a Government-owned device, Agencies must undertake a risk assessment and implement mitigation strategies to reduce associated risks,” the policy says.
“Agencies must ensure the TikTok application is installed and accessed only on a separate, standalone device without access to services that process or access official and classified information — it must be appropriately stored and secured when not in use.”
The policy said Agencies must minimise, where possible, the sharing of personal identifying content on the TikTok application, and must delete the TikTok application from devices when access was no longer needed.
“This direction applies only to the TikTok application and does not restrict access to TikTok through the use of a web interface (for example, accessing through a website),” the policy states.
