BC Announces Temporary TikTok Ban for Government-Issued Mobile Devices

The TikTok app logo is pictured in Tokyo on Sept. 28, 2020. (Kiichiro Sato/AP Photo)

The British Columbia government has announced a temporary ban on the use of TikTok on provincial government-issued mobile devices, coming just hours after the federal government announced a similar measure.

TikTok, a popular video-sharing app by the Chinese company ByteDance, has come under increased scrutiny by different governments due to security concerns.

“Due to recent concerns that have emerged regarding this particular platform, and out of an abundance of caution, we feel it is prudent to temporarily ban the use of the TikTok app on government-issued mobile devices as we continue to examine the risks associated with the app,” B.C. Citizens’ Services Minister Lisa Beare wrote on Twitter on Feb. 27.

Beare said the temporary ban takes effect immediately and is done as a measure to protect government data.

“B.C. has an expert team dedicated to protecting systems from intrusions and security risks,” she wrote. “This team of experts monitors the security of government networks 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That includes monitoring a range of security risks in computer systems as well as cybersecurity threats.”

Beare added that the B.C. government will continue to examine security risks associated with TikTok in coordination with the federal government and provincial counterparts.

B.C’s temporary ban of the application on government mobile devices comes amid a joint investigation of TikTok by federal Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne and by the respective privacy watchdogs from B.C., Alberta, and Quebec.

Federal Treasury Board President Mona Fortier also announced on Feb. 27 that Ottawa would be banning TikTok on all federal government-issued devices effective Feb. 28.

“Users of these devices will also be blocked from downloading the application in the future,” Fortier said.

Security Concerns

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the federal government’s TikTok ban while speaking to reporters in Mississauga, Ont., on Feb. 27, saying that Ottawa decided it was better for federal employees and for government equipment not to have TikTok access because of safety concerns.

“This may be a first step; it may be the only step we need to take,” Trudeau said, adding that he hopes the move will also influence Canadians who are not working in the federal public service to “reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices in consequence.”

Fortier said the decision to ban TikTok on federal devices came after Chief Information Officer Catherine Luelo determined in a review of the application that it presented “an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”

A TikTok spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the company wasn’t contacted by the federal government prior to the ban being announced, adding that TikTok is “always available to meet with our government officials to discuss how we protect the privacy and security of Canadians.”

“Singling out TikTok in this way does nothing to achieve that shared goal,” the spokesperson said.

The U.S. government and over 28 U.S. states have already banned the app from being downloaded on state-owned devices, and TikTok is also prohibited by the U.S. armed forces on military devices.

Both the European Commission and the European Union Council also prohibit their staff from using TikTok on their corporate devices and phones over cybersecurity concerns.

FBI Director Christopher Wray last year told the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee that TikTok’s risk to national security include “the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm.”

Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.