Canada bans TikTok on government devices

Beginning on Tuesday, the video app TikTok will be removed from all government-issued devices in Canada.

Following a review by Canada's chief information officer, the app "presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security," according to a government spokesperson.

A TikTok spokesperson expressed disappointment with the decision.

It comes only a few days after the European Commission announced a similar prohibition.

Security concerns

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that there was enough concern about the app's security to warrant the change.

"This may be the first and only step we need to take," he said at a press conference near Toronto on Monday.

TikTok has been chastised for its use of personal data and links to the Chinese government.

ByteDance Ltd., a Chinese company, owns the short-form video app.

TikTok was banned for US federal employees late last year, and the White House gave government agencies 30 days to remove the app from their systems on Monday.

A number of American universities have prohibited the use of the app on their networks. India and several other Asian countries have imposed broader public bans.

The company insists that Chinese government officials do not have access to user data and that a Chinese version of the app exists in addition to the one used elsewhere. However, the company admitted last year that some employees in China have access to European users' data.

The ban for European Commission employees is set to take effect on March 15.

Canadian privacy regulators are also looking into TikTok's user data concerns, specifically whether the company obtains "valid and meaningful" consent from users when collecting personal information.

According to a recent survey conducted by researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University's Social Media Lab, about a quarter of Canadian adults use the app.

In a statement, Mona Fortier, the president of Canada's Treasury Board, said the government "is committed to keeping government information secure".

The app will be removed from government-issued phones and other devices this week, and future downloads will be blocked.

"On a mobile device, TikTok's data collection methods provide significant access to the phone's contents," Ms Fortier explained. "While the risks of using this application are obvious, we have no evidence that government information has been compromised at this time."

The Treasury Board, which oversees federal government operations, includes the country's chief information officer.

TikTok responds

In a statement, a company 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 government officials to discuss how we protect Canadians' privacy and security, but singling out TikTok in this manner does nothing to achieve that common goal," the spokesperson said.

"All it does is prevent officials from communicating with the public on a platform that millions of Canadians enjoy."