Canada's electronic spy agency watching TikTok 'very carefully,' Trudeau says

Canada's electronic spy agency is watching out for security threats fromthepopular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.

Responding to questions from reporters in a pre-cabinet scrum on Parliament Hill, Trudeau said the Communications Security Establishment, Canada's foreign signals intelligence agency,is keeping an eye onTikTok as Republican lawmakers move to ban the app in the U.S.

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"I think people are concerned about TikTok. I think people are obviously watching very carefully," he said. "The ... CSE is one of the best cyber security agencies in the world and they're watching very carefully."

WATCH| Canada monitoring TikTok for security threats:

TikTok being monitored for security threats, Trudeau says

2 years ago

Duration 2:34

Canadas electronic spy agency is monitoring TikTok for security threats, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He was asked about the popular Chinese-owned social media app in light of calls by U.S. lawmakers to ban the app in that country.

U.S. moves to ban TikTok

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio on Tuesday announced bipartisan legislation to ban the app, which reaches more than one billion users worldwide.

The legislation responds to growing concerns in the U.S. that TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. could use the appto spy on or censure Americans.

Rubio's bill would block all transactions from any social media company in, or under the influence of, China and Russia, the senator's office said in a news release.

The bill would be an expansion of existing American laws restricting access to TikTok. The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill in August2020 banning federal employees from using the app on government-issued devices.

A spokesperson for TikToksaid the company's U.S.security plans weredeveloped under the oversight oftop Americannational security agencies.

"It is troubling that rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States," thespokesperson said in an email.

Thespokesperson saidTikTokhas never provided Canadian user data to the Chinese government and would not if it were asked to do so. Canadian user data is storedin data centres in the U.S. and Singapore, the spokesperson added.

NDP ethics criticMatthew Green said in an email to CBC the party believes Canada has fallenbehind its European counterparts ondata protection. He did not call for a ban on TikTok for federal employees' devices.

"While New Democrats don't think a ban on TikTok should be dismissed outright,the government needs to take the first steps to introduce better regulation and work side by side with our allies on data protection," Green said.

NDPLeader Jagmeet Singhhas nearly 900 thousand followers on TikTok and routinely uses the platform.

Trudeau alsoresponded to aquestion about the risk of Chinese infiltration of Canadian government accounts on Twitter.

He said the government is "watching what the Americans are doing" regardingthe U.S.-based social media giant, which has been under intense scrutiny since billionaire Elon Musk completed his purchase ofthe company in October.