Security News > 2023 > March > TikTok cannot be considered a private company, says Australian report

Asia In Brief ByteDance, the Chinese developer of TikTok, "Can no longer be accurately described as a private enterprise" and is instead intertwined with China's government, according to a report [PDF] submitted to Australia's Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media.

The report alleges that China's government noticed as Douyin - the Chinese version of TikTok - boomed.

ByteDance has since become a publisher of state propaganda and built surveillance and analytics capabilities that make both Douyin and TikTok a tool China could use to profile individuals.

The report also suggests Oracle's hosting of TikTok outside China does not reduce China's capacity to exercise control over TikTok.

Spending on infosec hardware, software, and services is set to jump 16.7 percent year-on-year in 2023, according to analyst firm IDC. "With looming economic uncertainty and geopolitical instability, it would be natural for Asia/Pacific organizations to turtle-up on their security spending. Yet, IDC still sees increased security budgets and growth over the next few years to address the more prevalent sophisticated attacks and constantly metamorphosizing threat landscape. Security and business leaders must work together to continuously justify their security spending," said Christian Fam, research manager, Security Services, IDC Asia/Pacific.

Vietnamese media report sharp growth in revenue for the nation's cyber security sector.

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