Canada’s electronic spy agency is monitoring security threats from popular Chinese social media app TikTok, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.
Responding to questions from reporters during a pre-cabinet scrum on Parliament Hill, Trudeau said the Communications Security Establishment, Canada’s foreign signals intelligence agency, was monitoring TikTok as Republican lawmakers decided to ban the app in the United States.
“I think people are concerned about TikTok. I think people are obviously watching very carefully,” he said. “The … CSE is one of the best cybersecurity agencies in the world and they are watching very carefully.”
Canada’s electronic spy agency is monitoring TikTok for security threats, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He was asked about the popular Chinese-owned social media app in light of calls from US lawmakers to ban the app there.
US decides to ban TikTok
On Tuesday, Republican Senator Marco Rubio announced bipartisan legislation to ban the application, which affects more than a billion users worldwide.
The legislation responds to growing concerns in the United States that TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. could use the app to spy on or censor Americans.
Rubio’s bill would block all transactions by any social media company in China and Russia or under their influence, the senator’s office said in a press release.
The bill would be an extension of existing US laws restricting access to TikTok. The US Senate unanimously approved a bill in August 2020 prohibiting federal employees from using the app on government-issued devices.
A TikTok spokesperson said the company’s US security plans were developed with oversight from key US national security agencies.
“It is troubling that instead of encouraging the administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of TikTok. United States,” the spokesperson said. said in an email.
The spokesperson said TikTok had never provided Canadian user data to the Chinese government and would not do so if asked to do so. Canadian user data is stored in data centers in the United States and Singapore, the spokesperson added.
NDP ethics critic Matthew Green said in an email to CBC that the party believes Canada has fallen behind its European counterparts when it comes to data protection. He did not call for a ban on TikTok for federal employee devices.
“While New Democrats don’t believe a ban on TikTok should be rejected out of hand, the government must take the first steps to introduce better regulation and work side-by-side with our allies on data protection,” Green said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has nearly 900,000 followers on TikTok and uses the platform regularly.
Trudeau also responded to a question about the risk of Chinese infiltration of Canadian government accounts on Twitter.
He said the government was “watching what Americans are doing” regarding the US social media giant, which has come under intense scrutiny since billionaire Elon Musk completed his purchase of the company in October.
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