After the U.S. announcement, Canada on Monday announced government-issued devices must not use TikTok, saying that it presents an “unacceptable” risk to privacy and security.
The move followed a review by the chief information officer of Canada, who determined the social media app “presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”
In February 2023, the Canadian government moved to ban the use of TikTok on all government devices; some provinces and cities have since followed suit.
In Japan, the use of TikTok and other social networking services (SNSs) are prohibited on government devices that handle confidential information. Nakayama said further restrictions should be considered only after looking into their data-handling and other operations.
These bans have generally been justified with national security concerns, due to TikTok's ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance. As of April 2023, the app has been banned for use by federal employees and banned for use by state employees in 34 (out of 50) states.
TikTok, and its Chinese counterpart Douyin (Chinese: 抖音; pinyin: Dǒuyīn), is a short-form video hosting service owned by ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 3 seconds to 10 minutes.
Canada has become the latest country to ban the wildly popular social media app TikTok from government-issued phones starting Tuesday in a decision that follows similar moves in the United States and Europe.
Canada has blocked the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from government-issued devices, saying it presents an “unacceptable” level of risk to privacy and security.
The Canadian government is banning the use of the popular short-form video application TikTok on all government-issued mobile devices, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier announced on Monday. Effective Tuesday, TikTok “will be removed from government-issued mobile devices,” Fortier said in a statement.
Toronto is banning TikTok on city-owned devices, becoming the latest jurisdiction in Canada to block the use of the video-sharing social media platform.
TikTok is fighting to stay alive in the United States as pressure builds in Washington to ban the app if its Chinese owners don't sell the company. But the wildly popular platform, developed with homegrown Chinese technology, isn't accessible in China.
Social media app TikTok has been banned on government electronic devices, the Cabinet Office has announced today. The ban comes after Cabinet Office Ministers ordered a security review.
The Indian government banned TikTok in June 2020, along with several other Chinese apps, over national security concerns. Before the ban, the app had about 150 million monthly active users in India.
Elsewhere in the region, South Korea has not had much to say about TikTok since it slapped the app with a fine in 2020 for mishandling children's data with their legal guardians' consent.
27, 2023. TORONTO — Canada announced Monday it is banning TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices, reflecting widening worries from Western officials over the Chinese-owned video sharing app. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it might be a first step to further action or that it might be it.
The Ontario government is the latest to ban the popular social media platform from its mobile devices. Since the federal government announced last week that it was deleting TikTok from its devices following a review by the chief information officer of Canada, many provinces and municipalities have made a similar move.
Have any countries banned TikTok? India banned the platform in mid-2020, costing ByteDance one of its biggest markets, as the government cracked down on 59 Chinese-owned apps, claiming that they were secretly transmitting users' data to servers outside India.
ByteDance says 60% of its shares are owned by non-Chinese investors such as U.S investment firms Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Japan's SoftBank Group. Employees own 20% and its founders the remaining 20%. Some details of the relationship between TikTok and ByteDance remain unclear to outsiders.
TikTok is owned by China-based ByteDance, the world's most valuable start-up. Numerous countries have raised concerns over its proximity to the Chinese government and hold over user data across the world. Banned TikTok from all federal government-owned devices over security concerns.
According to the latest data on TikTok's advertising reach, the United States is home to the majority of TikTok users worldwide, with 116.5 million TikTokers residing there.
Will TikTok be banned and shut down in 2023? While TikTok may be getting banned from some devices, the vast majority of users will still be able to access the app and post content to it, keeping it alive for the foreseeable future.
West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Center for Technology Innovation. The app could lose functionality over time. “If there's a ban, there would definitely be no more updates and software enhancements, and over time, it becomes harder to use those apps,” West said.
Is TikTok safe? It's as safe as just about any other social media platform. It doesn't infect your phone with malware, but it comes with some safety risks like scams and saved user data.
What age is TikTok recommended for? Common Sense recommends the app for age 15+ mainly due to the privacy issues and mature content. TikTok requires that users be at least 13 years old to use the basic TikTok features, although there is a way for younger kids to access the app.