It becomes the latest U.S.-allied country to take action against the Chinese-owned video app.

The ban reflects growing worries that China could use the Beijing-based company to harvest users' data

Advancing its political agenda and undermining Western security interests.

It also risks renewing diplomatic tension between Australia and its largest trading partner.

Australian finance minister Katy Gallagher's statement on the decision:

"Look, this has been informed by security agencies' advice on work that's been done and provided to government so that's the decision we've taken is around government-issued devices."

With Australia's move, all members of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network have banned the app from government devices.

The network consists of Australia, Canada, the United States, Britain and New Zealand.

France, Belgium and the European Commission have announced similar bans.

TikTok said it was extremely disappointed by Australia's decision, calling it "driven by politics, not by fact."