New Brunswick is the latest province in Canada to ban TikTok from all government phones citing privacy concerns.
Liz Byrne-Zwicker, chief information officer for the Government of New Brunswick, said in a statement that the decision, which takes effect immediately, is a “precautionary measure” to ensure private government information is not threatened.
“The protection of personal information is of the utmost importance,” she said in a release.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has faced accusations from tech experts about how much data the app collects.
It includes personal data like contacts, calendars, device information, operating system, location and the content you engage with.
Some experts claim that information has the potential to be leaked to the Chinese government, but nothing has been proven.
Byrne-Zwicker said there is no indication that any private information from the provincial government has been compromised.
New Brunswick is the latest in Canada to ban the app from government devices, with Nova Scotia and the federal government taking a similar similar approach.
Officials in Ottawa say the popular app, known for its dance trends and sketch comedy, presents an “unacceptable” level of risk to privacy and security.
Byrne-Zwicker said in addition to the app being wiped from all government-issued devices, TikTok will also be blocked from being downloaded onto devices.