Canada announced on Monday that it would ban the use of TikTok on all government mobile devices, reflecting growing concerns from Western officials about the Chinese-owned app.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it could be a first step for new measures.

“I imagine that when the government takes the important step of informing all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones, many Canadians, from businesses to individuals, will think about the security of their own data. and maybe make some decisions,” said Trudeau.

Last week, Canada’s federal privacy watchdog and its provincial counterparts in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec announced an investigation into whether the app complies with Canadian privacy law. the protection of privacy.

Similarly, the European Commission last week banned the use of TikTok on phones used by its employees as a cybersecurity measure.

The EU decision follows similar actions in the United States, where more than half of states and Congress have banned the use of TikTok on government devices.

TikTok is hugely popular among young people, but its Chinese ownership has raised concerns that Beijing is using it to harvest user data from Western countries to push pro-China narratives and misinformation. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.

It comes at a time when China and the West are locked in a wider tussle over technology ranging from spy balloons to computer chips.

The President of the Treasury Board of Canada, Mona Fortier, said the federal government would also block the download of the application on official devices in the future.

Fortier said in a statement that Canada’s Chief Information Officer determined that this “presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”

The app will be removed from Canadian government phones on Tuesday.

“It is curious that the Canadian government decided to block TikTok on government devices – without citing specific security concerns or contacting us with questions – only after similar bans were introduced in the EU and the US. “said a TikTok spokesperson in an email.

The company is always available to discuss the privacy and security of Canadians, the email states. “Singularizing TikTok in this way does nothing to achieve this common goal,” he adds. “All it does is prevent public servants from reaching the public on a platform enjoyed by millions of Canadians.”