Canada is following the United States in banning the Chinese social media app TikTok from all government-issued devices, which will come into effect Tuesday, citing an “unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”
Canada’s chief information officer made the decision as a “precaution” after concerns were raised about the “unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security” and “legal regime that governs the information collected from mobile devices” following a review of the Chinese social media app. It was also determined that the “data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of the phone.”
The official government statement stated:
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. Following a review of TikTok, the Chief Information Officer of Canada determined that it presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.
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For the broader public, the decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice. 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. [Emphasis added.]
The decision to ban the Chinese social media app comes after a review from the Chief Information Officer of Canada. The review of the application determined that none of the Canadian government’s information has been compromised but that “TikTok’s data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of the phone.”
This comes after a recent push from U.S. Democrat and Republican public officials for action against the Chinese social media app over concerns that it could surveil Americans and have passed legislation to ban the Chinese social media app TikTok from U.S. government devices.
On the state level, numerous governors have announced that their states would also ban TikTok from state government devices over the last year — especially over half of 2022 — including Ohio, Georgia, Montana, Alabama, and Iowa. Additionally, on the federal level, a Republican-led Senate-passed piece of legislation was added to the omnibus spending bill that was signed into law, which bans the Chinese social media app TikTok from U.S. government devices.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.