Feds Had Security and Privacy Concerns About TikTok Since 2020: Document

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

The federal government had both security and privacy concerns with the Beijing-linked video-sharing app TikTok as early as 2020, federal records show, despite not banning the app on government-issued devices until early 2023.

Cabinet disclosed on May 15 in an Inquiry of Ministry all the memorandums and briefing notes received by ministers or their staff about TikTok between November 2015 and late March 2023. The inquiry document included who sent the notes, when they sent them, and summarized what they contained.

Most departments and the prime minister’s office have said they did not receive any formal memos or briefing notes about TikTok during that time frame except some informal briefs leading up to the more recent decision to ban TikTok on government-issued devices.

However, both Public Safety Canada (PSC) and the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) noted multiple instances of receiving related documents, with some dating back to the summer of 2020.

In August 2020, PSC’s National and Cyber Security Branch (NCSB) sent then-Public Safety Minister Bill Blair a document titled “Briefing Note for COS MPS Meeting with TikTok.”

The note was summarized as a means of providing the minister with “talking points and background information in preparation for a meeting” between his chief of staff and TikTok.

NCSB sent Blair another briefing note on Sept. 22, 2020, titled “Security and Privacy Concerns with Chinese Social Media Apps TikTok and WeChat.”

Although the title implies that NCSB had security concerns relating to WeChat along with TikTok, the provided summary of the briefing note only mentioned the federal government’s concerns with TikTok.

“This briefing note provides an overview of the privacy and national security considerations related to the TikTok application,” says the summary provided in the Inquiry of Ministry.

Privacy and Security

Marco Mendicino took over from Blair in October 2021 and he did not receive briefings on TikTok until Dec. 12, 2022, at which time the NCSB sent him one about “national security concerns” with the app.

Mendicino’s deputy minister of public safety received another briefing on TikTok in January 2023—about a month before the federal government announced it would ban the app on all government-issued devices over data collection methods that it said left users open to cyber attacks.

TBS also said in the Inquiry that it conducted an “assessment of privacy and security implications” on TikTok prior to issuing the banning directive.

TBS found that applications’ data collection methods on users’ mobile devices included “the ability to collect user contact lists, access calendars, and geolocate devices, making those who have downloaded applications more vulnerable to surveillance and cyber-attacks.”

It also said the government’s decision to ban TikTok on devices was “taken as a precaution” rather than as a reactionary measure, because of “similar actions taken by our international partners.”

Despite the government’s ban being issued on Feb. 28, 2023, the federal agency in charge of communications security continued to use TikTok for advertising beyond that date.

The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) spent almost $33,000 running TikTok ads in March 2023 to “promote the Government of Canada’s Online Disinformation advertising campaign,” according to a separate Inquiry of Ministry tabled in May 2023.

“TikTok is one of the platforms where disinformation is found. For this reason, it is relevant and necessary to advertise there,” says CSE.

CSE did not advertise on TikTok in 2022. The federal agency says it stopped advertising on TikTok as of March 31, 2023. The Treasury Board says that federal organizations are not precluded from advertising on the platform.

Tara MacIsaac contributed to this report.