Canada will ban video app TikTok from all government-issued devices starting on Tuesday.
The decision follows a review by Canada’s chief information officer, and the app “presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security”, a government spokesperson said in a statement.
A TikTok spokesperson said the company was disappointed by the decision.
It comes just days after the European Commission announced a similar ban.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was enough concern about security around the app to require the change.
“This may the first step, this may be the only step we need to take,” he said on Monday at a press conference near Toronto.
TikTok has been criticised for its use of personal information and ties to the Chinese government.
The short-form video app is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd.
US federal employees were banned from using TikTok late last year, and on Monday the White House gave government agencies 30 days to scrub the app from their systems.
A number of American universities have banned the app from being used on their networks. Broader public bans have been implemented in India and several other Asian countries.
The company insists that Chinese government officials don’t have access to user data and that a Chinese version of the app is separate from the one used in the rest of the world. But last year, the company admitted some staff in China can access the data of European users.
The ban for European Commission employees is set to come into force on 15 March. (BBC)
