Canada has become the latest country to prohibit the Chinese short-video app TikTok from being used on government-issued mobile devices.
The country has joined the European Union and some state governments in the United States in prohibiting TikTok from being used on government devices.
The Treasury Board’s President, Mona Fortier, announced a ban on the use of the TikTok application on government-issued mobile devices.
“Effective February 28, 2023, the TikTok application will be removed from government-issued mobile devices. Users of these devices will also be blocked from downloading the application in the future,” Fortier said in a statement.
Following an examination of TikTok, Canada’s Chief Information Officer determined that it poses an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.
“The decision to remove and block TikTok from government mobile devices is being taken as a precaution, particularly given concerns about the legal regime that governs the information collected from mobile devices, and is in line with the approach of our international partners,” Fortier explained
TikTok’s data collection methods on mobile devices provide extensive access to the phone’s contents.
“While the risks of using this application are clear, we have no evidence at this point that government information has been compromised,” said the Canadian government.
Last week, the European Commission ordered that all employees remove TikTok from their corporate devices.
The suspension also applies to employees’ personal devices that are used for work purposes.
The US House of Representatives recently directed that TikTok be removed from official work devices.
