Intelligence chief warns Canadians that China can use TikTok to spy on them
CBC
In some of his most hawkish comments to date, the head of Canada's intelligence agency is warning Canadians — including teenagers — against using the wildly popular video app TikTok.
"My answer as director of [the Canadian Security Intelligence Service] is that there is a very clear strategy on the part of the government of China ... to be able to acquire ... personal information from anyone around the world," said CSIS director David Vigneault in an interview with CBC's The House airing Saturday.
"As an individual, I would say that I would absolutely not recommend someone have TikTok."
Vigneault said it's "very clear" from the app's design that data gleaned from its users "is available to the government of China."
"Most people can say, 'Why is it a big deal for a teenager now to have their data [on TikTok]?' Well in five years, in 10 years, that teenager will be a young adult, will be engaged in different activities around the world," he told host Catherine Cullen.
"If you are, for whatever reason, getting in the crosshairs of the [People's Republic of China], they will have a lot of information about you."
His comments come a week after CSIS released an annual report which warned about Chinese President Xi Jinping's growing extraterritorial reach.
The report said the Chinese president has introduced provisions giving Beijing the ability to control data in China, and expansive laws that require Chinese citizens anywhere in the world to assist and cooperate with China's intelligence services.
"They're using big data analytics, they have amazing computer farms crunching the data, they are developing artificial intelligence ... based on using this data," Vigneault said.
"The ultimate goal is always to protect the interests of the Chinese Communist Party. And so from that point of view, in many ways, this is a threat to the way we live."
Vigneault is just the latest Western official to raise concerns about TikTok putting sensitive user data in the hands of the Chinese government.
TikTok's parent company ByteDance is also accused of helping to build China's system for cracking down on the Uyghur minority, and of targeting protesters in Hong Kong.
Critics say they fear China could continue to use TikTok's content recommendations to spread misinformation and bury dissent.
ByteDance has insisted its servers are outside of China and therefore beyond the control of the Chinese Communist Party.
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