Canada is banning Chinese social media app TikTok from all government-issued devices effective Tuesday, according to a report in the National Post on Monday, citing official communication to an internal department.
The decision was made to ensure the security of government information after an internal review showed that TikTok's data collection methods may leave users vulnerable to cyberattacks, the report said.
The move, which comes days after the European Commission imposed a similar ban, underscores the growing lobby against TikTok over concerns of its proximity to the Chinese government and hold over user data across the world.
Canada's privacy commissioner and TikTok did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Speaking after the European Commission ban last week, Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne told BreakingNews.ie: "TikTok have been strong in making clear any data collected in the EU remains in the EU, that it doesn't flow from data centres here to China, so we need to hear and get those assurances again. We also need to hear from regulators and independent regulators... their perspective on these issues.
"The difficulty of course is that TikTok is a Chinese-owned company and any company that is based out of China effectively has Chinese government input into its board, it's not an entirely independent private company.
"In China, under their national security law, they can require employees of companies to reveal information and data to them."
