Municipal staff bans TikTok from township devices

Roger Varley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The social media site known as TikTok has been banned from all township devices.

Chief Administrative Officer Kristi Honey said staff made the decision for IT and cyber protection. The ban extends to any corporate devices councillors might use for township business. Honey said the decision followed the federal government's concerns over TikTok and national security.

The township ban is just the latest example of governments around the world, from federal to municipal, banning the Chinese-based platform. According to a Nov. 7 article by the CBC, the bans are based on fears that user data could fall into the possession of the Chinese government. The CBC piece said that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has even warned Canadians against using TikTok.

“Former CSIS director David Vigneault told CBC...it's "very clear" from the app's design that data gleaned from its users "is available to the government of China."

The Canadian government recently ordered TikTok's Canadian operations to end. However, the app itself is still available.