Social media technologies like TikTok do not have a place on government platforms.

Cook Islands Digital Transformation coordinator-consultant for ICT, Maureen Hilyard made this comment after she was asked if the Cook Islands government would ban TikTok from government devices or government platforms.

This comes after the recent ban of the much used social media app TikTok has been banned in the United Kingdom, United States, EU, Australia and most recently Montana.

It’s been highlighted that some government organisation has banned TikTok from devices -citing security concerns - that the Chinese government could order ByteDance to hand over the data it collects about its users.

Halyard said, “If we are talking about whether social media technologies like TikTok have a place on government platforms, I would suggest not.

“As long as governments are not banning them from private platforms as some form of censorship then that would be a different story.”

She said it becomes a human rights issue where people should be able to share their views, but within parameters that show respect for the government, their communities and other internet users.