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The Canadian government will ban, starting Tuesday (28), federal employees from using the Chinese app TikTok on official cell phones as it poses an “unacceptable” risk to their privacy and security.
Mona Fortier, chair of the Treasury Board of Canada, the public body charged with overseeing federal employees, said in a statement that effective February 28, the app will be removed from all official cell phones.
“Users of these devices will also be blocked from downloading the app in the future. After an analysis of TikTok, the Director of Information Systems Canada has determined that it poses an unacceptable level of privacy and security risk.”
Fortier justified the measure because TikTok’s data entry and collection methods “provide considerable access to the contents of the phone”.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference that while the government wants to respect Canadians’ right to freedom of expression, there are also “very important principles about data protection and security for Canadians”.
“Like many countries around the world, we are carefully considering how to ensure Canadians’ safety online. And the decision is that it is best that government teams and workers do not have access to TikTok due to security concerns,” added Trudeau.
The premier also mused that other Canadians have considered the risk TikTok poses to their security “and perhaps” will act accordingly.
Likewise, Trudeau opened the door for the government to take more measures to ensure the security of official apparatus.
The ban on the use of TikTok on official Canadian cell phones comes a few days after the European Union adopted a similar measure. The United States has already banned the use of the application on official cell phones in 2022.
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( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )
