Ottawa will ban the popular TikTok app from federal government smartphones starting tomorrow as a “precautionary measure” amid suspicions the Chinese company’s data usage could exploit security flaws.
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“Following a review of TikTok, Canada’s Chief Information Officer has determined that the app poses an unacceptable level of privacy and security risk,” Treasury Board Minister Mona said.
Government employees will soon receive notification for this.
“While the risks of using this app are clear, we have no reason to believe that any government information has been compromised,” Ms.me Forty.
Mme However, Fortier, who oversees the federal public service, indicated that for the general public, the decision to use TikTok is a “personal choice.”
The announcement comes amid calls by the opposition and experts for the Trudeau government to launch a public inquiry into Beijing’s interference in Canadian elections.
Last week, three provincial offices, including Canada’s Privacy Commissioner and the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec, announced they were launching investigations into TikTok.
On the same day, the European Commission announced that it would ban the app on its employees’ phones to “protect” the company.
The US government has already taken a decision to ban the download and use of TikTok from government-owned phones.
Josh Hawley, a Republican senator, recently demanded that Apple and Google remove TikTok from their respective app stores.
Former US President Donald Trump has taken a direct swipe at banning the TikTok app in the US while he is in office.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, did not promise to ban the use of TikTok, but said it raised “awareness issues”.
He then developed “backdoors,” lines of computer code hidden in mechanisms that allow organizations such as states to extract information without users’ consent.
