ONTARIO – The Ontario government announced Thursday it will ban the social media app TikTok from all government-issued devices.
The move comes a week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the app would be removed from all federally-issued government devices in an effort to mitigate cybersecurity risks.
In a statement Prabmeet Sarkaria, President of the Treasury Board said:
“Effective immediately, the Ontario government has started the removal of the social media application TikTok from all Ontario government-issued devices. Also effective immediately, all Ontario PC part caucus members will begin the removal of the application from all personal mobile devices. As part of this ban, government advertising campaigns will also be removed from TikTok.
“The decision to block the TikTok application from government-issued and personal devices is a proactive and precautionary approach to ensuring the protection of government data and networks.
“While no data breaches have occurred, our government takes all allegations and concerns about data integrity incredibly seriously.
“The government encourages Ontarians to review the terms and conditions of any application they use to ensure they are making an informed decision about how those tools use information.”
Our government takes the safety, privacy, and security of the people of Ontario extremely seriously.
That’s why, effective immediately, the TikTok app will no longer be permitted on Ontario government-issued devices.
Please see my statement below: pic.twitter.com/tYqcjIuAlA
— Prabmeet Sarkaria (@PrabSarkaria) March 9, 2023
