After Europe and the United States .. Canada prevents its employees from using Tiktok
Canada has joined the list of countries banning the use of the TikTok app on government employees' phones after the US federal government and several countries in the European Union imposed similar bans on employees using the app on government-provided devices. He said. Government.
The TikTok app will be automatically deleted and banned from all government mobile devices, according to a document seen by the National Post and sent to employees of some Canadian government departments. The new decision is expected to go into effect on March 1.
The report, which was published by the newspaper, said that the Canadian government made the decision after reviewing the behavior of the application, which collected data in a way that might make users vulnerable to cyberattacks. This reflects the Canadian government's concerns about the Chinese government's access to personal data that TikTok has obtained from Canadians' mobile phones. According to reports, China has laws requiring companies to share Chinese app users' data with authorities upon request.
The Chinese company, ByteDance, has previously denied allegations that the Chinese government had access to user data. The company claims that Canadian users' data is stored in the United States and Singapore.
The Canadian Communications Security Agency warned earlier this month that "enemy states can influence their domestic companies in ways that are contrary to the interests of Canadian customers and Canadian customers." Criticism of interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.
In a statement to Engadget, a TikTok spokesperson said the company was "disappointed with the Canadian CIO's decision to ban TikTok on government mobile devices, but has not addressed any specific security issues with TikTok and is not making any decisions to do so." before making a decision. Feel free to meet with government officials to discuss how they protect the privacy and security of Canadian citizens.
TikTok faces ongoing media investigations in several Western countries as the media continues to publish new information about the company's questionable practices with user data. Previously leaked information from the company that developed the app, ByteDance, indicated that Chinese employees had access to US users' data.
It should be noted that there are reports of the TikTok app being removed from the Google and Apple app stores in the US. Last month, the US House of Representatives issued a directive banning the use of the TikTok app on any mobile device belonging to the House of Representatives because it poses a significant risk to members of the House of Representatives. In a similar move, the Senate voted unanimously in December on a bill banning the use of TikTok in government agencies.
Meanwhile, TikTok is trying to address growing privacy and security concerns with new measures, including setting up an independent panel to review privacy and security policies and increasing transparency about how it collects and uses data.