Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated it is likely to be a primary step to additional motion. “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 many Canadians from business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices,” Trudeau stated.

The European Union’s govt department stated final week it has quickly banned TikTookay from telephones utilized by workers as a cybersecurity measure.

The EU’s motion follows related strikes within the US, the place greater than half of the states and Congress have banned TikTookay from official authorities units.

Last week, Canada’s federal privateness watchdog and its provincial counterparts in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec introduced an investigation to delve into whether or not the app complies with Canadian privateness laws.

TikTookay is wildly in style with younger folks, however its Chinese possession has raised fears that Beijing might use it to gather information on Western customers or push pro-China narratives and misinformation.

TikTookay is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese firm that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020 TikTookay faces intensifying scrutiny from Europe and America over safety and information privateness amid worries that the app may very well be used to advertise pro-Beijing views or sweep up customers’ info. It comes as China and the West are locked in a wider tug-of-war over expertise starting from spy balloons to pc chips.

Canadian Treasury Board President Mona Fortier stated the federal authorities can even block the app from being downloaded on official units sooner or later.

Fortier stated in a press release the Chief Information Officer of Canada decided that it “presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.” The app shall be faraway from Canadian government-issued telephones on Tuesday.

“On a mobile device, TikTok’s data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of the phone,” Fortier stated. “While the risks of using this application are clear, we have no evidence at this point that government information has been compromised.”