Chinese-owned social media app TikTok has blocked the from government-issued devices in Canada, claiming it poses an “unacceptable” level of risk to privacy and security.
In a statement on Monday, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat said that Canada also passed a move to block federal employees from downloading the application in the future. The statement also added that methods of TikTok’s data collection provide considerable access to the contents of the phone.
In a statement, Mona Fortier, the president of Canada’s Treasury Board, said the government “is committed to keeping government information secure”.
“On a mobile device, TikTok’s data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of the phone,” Fortier said. “While the risks of using this application are clear, we have no evidence at this point that government information has been compromised.”
In a statement, a Tiktok spokesperson said the ban on government-issued devices happened “without citing any specific security concerns about TikTok or contacting us to discuss any concern prior to making this decision”.
“We are always available to meet with our government officials to discuss how we protect the privacy and security of Canadians, but singling out TikTok in this way does nothing to achieve that shared goal,” the spokesperson said.
“All it does is prevent officials from reaching the public on a platform loved by millions of Canadians.”
Source: New York Post
The move comes days after the European Commission imposed a similar ban, and it highlights the growing lobby against TikTok over concerns about its closeness to the Chinese government and its hold over user data all over the world.
Federal and provincial privacy regulators of Canada are also jointly probing into the app, a subsidiary of Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd, over alarms about the platform’s collection, use and disclosure of personal information.
“For the broader public, the decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice,” the Treasury Board statement said.
“However, the Communications Security Establishment’s Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) guidance strongly recommends that Canadians understand the risks and make an informed choice on their own before deciding what tools to use.”
Canada’s move is another potential thorn in Sino-Canadian relations, which have been tense in last few years, most recently over accusations by Ottawa that China has tried to influence its elections and that it has been running air and maritime surveillance activities.
Beijing refutes those allegations and has requested Ottawa to stop what it has described as unwarranted speculation and smearing.
