The Ontario government is removing TikTok from government-issued devices immediately to ensure the protection of government data and networks.
President of Ontario’s Treasury Board Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria made the announcement Thursday. The move comes shortly after Ottawa announced last week it was banning the Chinese-owned app from federal employees’ devices.
“Effective immediately, the Ontario government has started the removal of the social media application TikTok from all Ontario government-issued devices. Also effective immediately, all Ontario PC party caucus members will begin the removal of the application from all personal mobile devices,” Sarkaria said in a statement.
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Sakaria said the decision to block the popular video-sharing app from government-issued devices is a “proactive and precautionary approach” to protect government data and networks.
“While no data breaches have occurred, our government takes all allegations and concerns about data integrity incredibly seriously,” the statement reads.
“The government encourages Ontarians to review the terms and conditions of any application they use to ensure they are making an informed decision about how those tools use information.”
As of Feb. 28, the federal government banned the app on government-issued devices and said it presented “an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”
In response to the ban, TikTok said it was unsure why Canada made that decision.
“It’s curious that the Government of Canada has moved to block TikTok on government-issued devices, without citing any specific security concern or contacting us with questions, only after similar bans were introduced in the EU and the U.S,” a TikTok spokesperson said in an email to Now Toronto.
