Canada banning video app TikTok on government-issued mobile devices

The federal government is banning TikTok from its mobile devices days after federal and provincial privacy commissioners launched an investigation into the social media platform.

A statement from Treasury Board President Mona Fortier says the application will be removed from government-issued mobile devices on Tuesday.

The statement says the decision follows a review by the chief information officer of Canada, who determined that TikTok “presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”

Last week, the federal privacy watchdog and its counterparts in B.C., Alberta and Quebec announced an investigation to delve into whether the video platform complies with Canadian privacy legislation.

TikTok has long been embroiled in privacy concerns because the Chinese government has a stake in its owner, ByteDance, and laws allow the country to access user data.

Both the U.S. and the EU have recently banned government staff from using TikTok on work-issued devices.