Ottawa fears that Beijing, via Tiktok, can thus access user data from members of his government. This prohibition in Canada occurs a few days after that the European Commission to “protect” the institution.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
The Canadian government announced Monday, February 27, that it would ban the Tiktok application of mobile devices it provides to its staff from Tuesday, evoking “an unacceptable risk level” for privacy and security . A ban put in place in emergency.
“On a mobile device, Tiktok data collection methods give considerable access to the content of the phone,” said the president of the Ministry of the Treasury, Mona Fortier, adding in a press release that the ban had been taken “as a preventive basis”. “We have no reason to believe for the moment that information from the government has been compromised,” she added.
A spokesperson for Tiktok reacted by deploring, in an email at the France-Presse agency, a “curious” decision, taken “without quoting any specific security problem”, and regretting that the platform n ‘ was not contacted by the government.
The ultrapopular platform of short and viral videos, owned by the Chinese company bytedance, is more and more scrutinized by Westerners who fear that Beijing can thus access user data around the world.
in the wake of the European Commission
This ban in Canada occurs a few days after a similar decision by the European Commission, which prohibited Tiktok to its staff to “protect” the institution.
Tiktok is also in the crosshairs of the American authorities: a law ratified a few weeks ago by President Joe Biden prohibits the use of this application in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, as well as on civil servants.
Relations between China and Canada have deteriorated strongly in recent years, especially after the arrest by Canada at the request of the United States of the financial director of Huawei Meng Wanzhou in 2018.
The Canadian Privacy Protection Commission announced last week that it had launched a Tiktok investigation to establish its compliance with Canadian laws. It aims in particular to verify that “Tiktok has obtained valid consent for the collection, use and communication of personal information”.
The president of the Ministry of the Treasury wanted to recall that the general public was not impacted by this ban: “With regard to the general public, the decision to use an application or a social media platform is a choice Personal. However, lines Directors of the Canadian Center for Cybersecurity of the Telecommunications Safety Center strongly recommend Canadians to understand the risks and make an informed choice before deciding which tools they want to use. “