Updated February 28th, 2023 at 13:38 IST
Canada latest to ban China's Tik Tok due to security risks
Canada's PM has banned TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices as concerns have emerged from western officials over the Chinese-owned video-sharing app
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Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has banned TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices as concerns have emerged from western officials over the Chinese-owned video-sharing app, reported The Guardian. While talking about the updates about TikTok, Trudeau said that there might or might not be any further steps regarding the TikTok app. This move by Trudeau has come after European Union’s executive branch banned TikTok from phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure, last week.
Before the EU, the US took the same measure against the Chinese app TikTok, where more than half of the states and Congress have banned TikTok from official government devices. The Chinese app, Tik Tok, has been popular among the young generation however its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Bejing might be accumulating data and pushing its Pro-China narrative. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company which has moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.
“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 business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices,” said Trudeau. Further, he added, "I’m always a fan of giving Canadians the information for them to make the right decisions for them.”
Canadian PM bans Tik Tok
Canada’s federal privacy watchdog and its provincial counterparts in British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec have announced an investigation of whether the app complies with Canadian privacy legislation. According to the Canadian treasury board president, Mona Fortier, the federal government would also block the app from being downloaded on official devices in the future. He has also emphasised that the app “presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security”.
“On a mobile device, TikTok’s data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of the phone,” said Fortier. Further, he added, “While the risks of using this application are clear, we have no evidence at this point that government information has been compromised.”
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Published February 28th, 2023 at 13:38 IST
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