Well, by God, it’s happened.
After kicking the idea around for awhile, the federal government has announced that the app TIKTOK will no longer be allowed on government-issued phones.
Citing national security issues, the government has declared that the Chinese-based app harvests personal data at a rate that has security agencies concerned. As well, the Canadian government has formed the opinion that ByteDance, the company controlling the app, has deep connections to the Chinese Communist Party, and that the app can be used by nefarious actors – read China – to gather information on Canadians that may in turn be used to cultivate leverage in the area of espionage.
This is the second Chinese company literally accused by the Canadian government of being a front for intelligence-gathering operations. A couple of years ago it was Huawei, the giant Chinese smartphone manufacturer, that was given the red light in its hopes to become the provider of a 5G internet network in Canada.
Like ByteDance, Huawei has been ruled a potential threat to national security, something that has had the company banned from 5G networks in several western countries already.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 