Australian government workers could soon be banned from Tinder and other dating apps

Australian government employees, including politicians, could soon be banned from Tinder, following a TikTok ban on government-issued devices.

The federal cabinet is advised by the Ministry of the Interior on the risks of dating apps, Instagram, Netflix and Twitter as it improves online safety.

Department Secretary Mike Pezzullo confirmed that the report of an internal assessment of social media risks was provided to Secretary of the Interior Clare O’Neil in March when he was scheduled for a hearing on Senate estimates on Monday.

While Mr Pezzullo declined to reveal the nature of the advice, he hinted that the cabinet was considering limiting the use of apps other than TikTok when he said Ms O’Neil had decided to submit the assessment to the cabinet.

‘The minister has decided to bring this up to her colleagues. It is currently under consideration by the entire government,” he said.

“She … has sought approval through Cabinet procedures to deal with the matter.”

Mr Pezzullo made the comments after being asked if the department had conducted “due diligence” into the use of apps other than TikTok on officials’ phones and laptops after France introduced a wide-ranging ban.

In March, the French government announced a ban not only on TikTok, but on all social media platforms, gaming and video streaming apps such as Twitter, Instagram, Netflix and Candy Crush due to cybersecurity and privacy concerns.

Mr. Pezzullo was asked if he would provide a copy of the Home Office’s social media risk assessment to the Senate Judiciary Committee conducting the estimate hearing, and replied that he would ask Ms. O’Neil for guidance regarding its release.

He confirmed that the assessment was part of the wider investigation Ms O’Neil commissioned earlier this year into the risks of using social media platforms on government-issued devices.

That investigation prompted the Albanian government to ban TikTok in April on phones and computers controlled by politicians and officials.

The Albanian government banned TikTok (pictured) on the phones and computers of politicians and officials in April

This was due to security concerns that the Chinese social media app posed a spying risk and followed similar bans in other Western countries.

The government has not yet announced a ban on other platforms.

On Monday, Mr Pezzullo said he would be “frankly” surprised if any of the department’s officials had time to watch Netflix on their government devices.

When asked if Home Office employees could download dating apps onto their work phones, he said he believed the department would ban such platforms through its “white-listing and black-listing processes.”

“I’ll be pretty confident in saying that. And if there are dating apps, they will be removed this afternoon, I can assure you,” he said.

But when pressed, Mr Pezzullo was unable to confirm whether dating apps had already been banned.

Security issues with Chinese social media app TikTok led to it being banned from Australian government devices. A similar one on Tinder (pictured) could follow

He referred to his colleague Mike Milford, the department’s technology and high capacity group manager.

Mr Milford said the Home Office was banning dating apps, as well as blacklisting gambling apps and pornographic websites separately with a ‘crazy a mole’ approach.

Mr Pezzullo said some apps, such as Google Maps, are useful to have on government devices, noting officials could use additional security measures such as restrictions on location services.

‘All apps involve data risks. The question is: do the benefits outweigh the risks? And if the benefits are still material enough, can the risks be managed in such a way that the application can be used safely?’ he said.