Toronto latest to remove TikTok from city-issued devices
Posted March 10, 2023 5:02 pm.
Last Updated March 10, 2023 5:10 pm.
The City of Toronto announced it would remove the social media app TikTok from government-issued devices, following the lead of the federal and provincial governments.
A city spokesperson said the app would be terminated from approximately 350 staff devices “as a precautionary measure,” and TikTok will be blocked from being downloaded in the future.
“While there have been no security or privacy breaches, the city is committed to ensuring the protection of its data and keeping information secure,” the city noted in a news release.
On Thursday, cities and police services across Ontario indicated they would follow the federal government’s decision to ban TikTok from work and government-owned devices, while others consider such bans as privacy watchdogs assess the video-sharing platform for threats.
Ontario Treasury Board President Prabmeet Sarkaria wrote in a statement that the provincial government had started removing the app from official devices.
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“The decision to block the TikTok application from government-issued and personal devices is a proactive and precautionary approach to ensuring the protection of government data and networks,” he wrote.
The federal government banned TikTok from government-owned devices earlier this week after the chief information officer said it has an “unacceptable” level of risk to privacy and security.
Ontario was the last province to announce its decision, with all of the other provinces making the move in recent days.
The Chinese government has a stake in TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, and Chinese laws allow the country to demand access to user data. The company that owns TikTok maintains that it does not share data with China’s government, and its data is not held in that country.
With files from The Canadian Press
