By Peter Wilson
February 27, 2023 Updated: February 27, 2023
TikTok app logo in an
illustration taken on Aug. 22, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters)
Canada is planning to ban TikTok from all
government-issued devices by Feb. 28 over concerns that the app’s data
collection methods leave users open to cyber attacks, says Treasury Board
President Mona Fortier.
“Effective February 28,
2023, the TikTok application will be removed from government-issued mobile
devices. Users of these devices will also be blocked from downloading the
application in the future,” said Fortier in a statement issued
on Feb. 27.
Fortier said the
government’s decision to ban the application from devices it issues comes following a review of
TikTok by Chief Information Officer Catherine Luelo, who
determined it “presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”
Fortier added that Ottawa’s
banning of TikTok is a precautionary measure given the application’s
data-collection methods and said that there’s “no evidence at this point”
suggesting any government information was compromised through the app.
“The decision to remove
and block TikTok from government mobile devices is being taken as a precaution,
particularly given concerns about the legal regime that governs the information
collected from mobile devices, and is in line with the approach of our
international partners,” the Treasury Board said.
“On a mobile device,
TikTok’s data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of
the phone.”
The general public is
still free to download and use TikTok on their own personal devices, but
Fortier says the Communications Security Establishment’s Canadian Centre
for Cyber Security “strongly recommends that Canadians understand the risks and
make an informed choice on their own before deciding what tools to use.”
Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau also addressed the TikTok ban during a press conference on Feb. 27.
“I suspect that as
government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that
they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones, many Canadians from
businesses to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own
data and perhaps make choices in consequence,” he said.
TikTok says the federal
government neither cited specific security concerns nor contacted the
company with questions prior to announcing the incoming ban, which it calls
“curious.”
“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,” a TikTok spokesperson told The Epoch Times via
email. “All it does is prevent officials from reaching the public on a platform
loved by millions of Canadians.”
TikTok
Bans
Ottawa’s decision to ban
TikTok from government-issued devices comes after the U.S. federal government
and over 28 American states banned the app from
being downloaded on state-owned devices.
The U.S. Armed Forces
have also prohibited the app on military devices.
In Europe, both
the European Commission and European Union Council recently
ordered staff to remove TikTok from their corporate devices and phones,
citing cybersecurity concerns.
TikTok is currently under
investigation by Canada’s federal Privacy
Commissioner Philippe Dufresne, and also by the respective provincial
privacy authorities for British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec.
Dufresne’s office, which
announced the joint investigation on Feb. 23, said the commissioners will
examine whether or not TikTok’s privacy and transparency practices are in line
with Canadian legislation and also whether “valid and meaningful consent is
being obtained [from users] for the collection, use and disclosure of personal
information.”
“The investigation will
also determine if the company is meeting its transparency obligations,
particularly when collecting personal information from its users,” his office
wrote in a news release on Feb. 23.
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