By Kat Wong in Canberra

To the relief of Australian teenagers and TikTok, the government has no plans to ban the Chinese-owned social media platform despite growing national security concerns in the US.

The short-form video app, owned by ByteDance, is one of the fastest growing platforms in the world with more than 170 million American users.

But on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would give ByteDance six months to divest from the app and sell to a company that is not based in China.

Failing to do this, Apple’s App Store and Google Play store would be barred from hosting TikTok, effectively banning its use across America.

However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian government was not expected to emulate the US.

“We’ll take advice but we have no plans,” he told WSFM Sydney on Thursday.

“You’ve always got to have national security concerns, front and centre, but you also need to acknowledge that for a whole lot of people, this provides a way of communicating.”

A TikTok spokesperson warned any changes made in Australia would impact 350,000 businesses and more than 8.5 million users, and welcomed the prime minister’s comments.

“Action being taken in the US is not based in fact,” they told AAP in a statement.

“We are hopeful that the US Senate will consider the impact.”

US politicians claim the app poses a security risk as Americans’ data could be shared with the Chinese government due to ByteDance’s affiliations with the country.

But TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew has repeatedly told Congress US data is held in Singapore, not China.

The app’s fate now rests in the hands of US senators, who will review the legislation.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has urged the prime minister to “show leadership” but stopped short of calling for a TikTok ban.

“Young people who are using TikTok are having their personal details collected – their images, their most intimate discussions,” he said.

“Whether that’s being collected either by a country or by a third party, the prime minister has to act.”

In Australia, TikTok is only banned on government devices, which prevents public servants from downloading the app on their work-issued phones.

The Commonwealth must consider advice before taking further action, Mr Albanese said.

“You need to have an argument fought rather than just automatically ban things,” he said on ABC radio.

“TikTok isn’t compulsory, by the way.”