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Canadian government bans employees from using TikTok on official devices
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 28 February 2023
The Canadian government has told its employees that they can no longer use TikTok on official devices, following the lead of the US government and the European Commission.
The decision in Canada comes as political concerns continue to build over access the Chinese government may or may not have to TikTok user-data via the app’s China-based owner Bytedance.
Employees of the federal government in the US were banned from using TikTok late last year, with the White House yesterday telling government agencies that they now have 30 days to ensure that the app is no longer installed on any official devices.
Meanwhile, in Europe, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union banned their employees from using TikTok on work devices last week.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated that there weren’t currently any plans to more widely limit the use of TikTok within the country, although he didn’t rule out further restrictions being considered down the line, while suggesting that both individuals and companies might want to review their own use of the TikTok platform.
“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”, he said, “many Canadians – from businesses to private individuals – will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices”.
“I’m always a fan of giving Canadians the information [they need] to make the right decisions for themselves”, he added.
TikTok continues to deny that there are any data privacy issues on its platform. A spokesperson for the company said that the latest government ban on using the app had been instigated “without citing any specific security concerns about TikTok or contacting us to discuss any concern prior to making this decision”.
“We are always available to meet with our government officials to discuss how we protect the privacy and security of Canadians”, they added, “but singling out TikTok in this way does nothing to achieve that shared goal. All it does is prevent officials from reaching the public on a platform loved by millions of Canadians”.
