Is TikTok a risk to Canadian privacy? A federal committee wants to find out – National | 24CA News
A House of Commons committee voted on Wednesday to launch a research into TikTok, a well-liked social media app that’s come underneath scrutiny over its ties to the Chinese authorities, in addition to different social media platforms.
The Liberal movement, which MP Iqra Khalid introduced ahead, was carried throughout a House of Commons ethics committee assembly on Tuesday — however solely after an modification was added.
The authentic movement known as on the committee to focus solely on TikTok and its dad or mum firm, ByteDance Ltd., however NDP MP Matthew Green proposed an modification to broaden that scope to incorporate all social media platforms.
The amended movement, which was carried with unanimous assist from all events, calls on the members to dig into TikTok and different social media platforms’ involvement or use “of private information of Canadians for the objective of data harvesting.”
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It would additionally take a look at “illicit sharing of personal information with foreign entities” and whether or not the “private information of Canadians is adequately protected and stored.”
As a part of the research, which is able to span at the least three conferences, the committee plans to ask witnesses from the Communications Security Establishment, key executives from ByteDance, in addition to related cybersecurity consultants and watchdogs.
The committee didn’t instantly decide on a begin date for these conferences.
The transfer comes because the United States is contemplating laws to ban the app amid fears it may very well be used to spy on Americans and censor content material.
It has additionally confronted comparable scrutiny from European officers, and the app has been banned in India.
Quite a lot of universities throughout the United States have banned TikTok on school-owned units.
Congress additionally lately banned TikTok from most U.S. government-issued units over bipartisan issues about safety.
TikTok’s Chinese dad or mum firm, ByteDance, moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020. It has been focused by critics who say the Chinese authorities might entry consumer knowledge, similar to looking historical past and site.
Those fears stem from a Chinese legislation that requires non-public firms to cooperate with Beijing if requested.
U.S. armed forces even have prohibited the app on army units.
TikTok is consumed by two-thirds of American teenagers and has grow to be the second-most widespread area on the planet. But there’s lengthy been bipartisan concern in Washington and, extra lately, in Ottawa that Beijing would use authorized and regulatory energy to grab American consumer knowledge or attempt to push pro-China narratives or misinformation.
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Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that TikTok consumer knowledge may very well be shared by proprietor ByteDance with China’s authoritarian authorities. U.S. officers additionally fear that the Chinese authorities may use TikTok to push pro-China narratives or misinformation.
Fears have been stoked by news stories final yr {that a} China-based staff improperly accessed knowledge of U.S. TikTok customers, together with two journalists, as a part of a covert surveillance program to ferret out the supply of leaks to the press.
There are additionally issues that the corporate is sending lots of consumer knowledge to China, in breach of stringent European privateness guidelines.
TikTok has additionally come underneath scrutiny for its impression on the psychological well being of its customers.
In an announcement despatched to the Associated Press in late January, Jamal Brown, a spokesperson for TikTok, stated it was annoyed by blowback.
“We’re disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok,” Brown stated.
TikTok has stated it’s creating safety and knowledge privateness plans as a part of an ongoing nationwide safety evaluation by President Joe Biden’s administration.
— with recordsdata from The Associated Press
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
