TikTok local profits surge as potential ban looms

2 weeks ago 6

The Australian limb of arguable societal media level TikTok has posted a surge successful gross and profits implicit the past year, contempt a looming prohibition successful the US and questions implicit whether Australia should travel suit.

In its yearly fiscal study filed with firm regulator ASIC this week, TikTok Australia reported nett for the 2023 calendar twelvemonth of $11.4 cardinal – astir treble its $5.4 cardinal nett a twelvemonth earlier – connected gross of $375 million, which was much than doubly arsenic overmuch arsenic the erstwhile year.

TikTok is nether occurrence from US legislators amid claims it represents a nationalist information risk.

The societal media institution makes the immense bulk of its gross from third-party advertizing successful its mobile app, and contempt the summation successful scrutiny crossed the Western world, has raked successful advertizing dollars astatine a grounds clip.

TikTok counts astir 8.5 cardinal Australian users, astir a 3rd of the population.

Its section office is connected Sydney’s Pitt Street, portion its genitor institution and eventual holding company, TikTok Ltd and ByteDance, are some located successful the Cayman Islands, a taxation haven. TikTok Australia paid $5.1 cardinal successful income taxation successful 2023, compared with $1.8 cardinal a twelvemonth earlier. Its accounts were audited by PwC Australia.

The nett surge comes arsenic the Australian authorities weighs its options pursuing a determination by the US to prohibition the app implicit information concerns.

US President Joe Biden past period signed a instrumentality requiring TikTok genitor institution ByteDance to divest from the app by January 2025 oregon look an effectual prohibition successful the US.

ByteDance has said that it has nary plans to prosecute a sale, and that it volition alternatively beryllium challenging the US authorities connected First Amendment grounds.

The fiscal documents marque nary notation of a imaginable prohibition successful Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said his authorities has nary plans to determination beyond existing rules that forbid ministers and authorities officials utilizing TikTok connected phones containing delicate information.

Coalition cybersecurity and location affairs spokesperson James Paterson, however, has labelled TikTok a “bad-faith actor” and urged the authorities to articulation different countries successful trying to region the power of the Chinese Communist Party connected its operations.

The company’s Australian wide manager of advertizing Brett Armstrong said past week determination was nary crushed for the TikTok app to beryllium banned locally.

He pointed to a study from Oxford Economics and paid for by TikTok that claimed TikTok had contributed much than $1 cardinal successful worth to Australia’s GDP.

“TikTok is simply a level that is loved by implicit 8.5 cardinal Australians and 350,000 Australian businesses, with a caller autarkic survey by Oxford Economics uncovering that we lend $1.1 cardinal and 13,000 jobs to the Australian economy,” Armstrong said successful a statement.

“There is zero grounds suggesting that TikTok is successful immoderate mode a nationalist information risk, and we invited the Prime Minister’s caller comments that his authorities has nary plans to prohibition us.”

Armstrong is present 1 of TikTok’s astir salient Australian executives aft the institution opted against replacing Lee Hunter, TikTok’s Australian wide manager, who departed earlier this year. Hunter, a erstwhile Google and YouTube executive, had served arsenic the section nationalist look of TikTok since May 2020.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is besides considering launching a afloat probe into TikTok pursuing revelations successful this masthead that its “pixel”, which is utilized by advertisers, is harvesting users’ data including email addresses, mobile telephone numbers and browsing histories without their cognition oregon consent, successful a imaginable breach of the nation’s privateness laws.

“The information-handling practices of societal media companies is simply a substance of regulatory precedence for the OAIC,” commissioner Angelene Falk told a Senate estimates proceeding successful March.

“Upon introspection of TikTok’s response, a determination volition request to beryllium made arsenic to whether further regulatory enactment is warranted, and besides whether immoderate different enactment is warranted successful narration to different entities that mightiness beryllium utilising this pixel.”

TikTok has denied immoderate wrongdoing, saying successful a connection that tracking pixels were “an industry-wide instrumentality utilized to amended the effectiveness of advertizing services”.

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