Canada will ban Chinese social media app TikTok on all government-issued devices starting Tuesday, according to a National Post report on Monday, citing an official communication to an internal department, reports Breaking News.
The decision was made to ensure the government’s information security after an internal review showed TikTok’s data collection methods may leave users vulnerable to cyberattacks, according to the report.
The move, which comes days after the European Commission imposed a similar ban, underscores growing lobbying against TikTok over concerns over its proximity to the Chinese government and control of user data around the world, reports Breaking News.
Canada’s privacy commissioner and TikTok did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Speaking after the European Commission ban last week, Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne told BreakingNews.ie: “TikTok have been strong in making clear any data collected in the EU remains in the EU, that it doesn’t flow from data centres here to China, so we need to hear and get those assurances again. We also need to hear from regulators and independent regulators… their perspective on these issues. “The difficulty of course is that TikTok is a Chinese-owned company and any company that is based out of China effectively has Chinese government input into its board, it’s not an entirely independent private company,” reports Breaking News.
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