The personal data watchdog of Quebecers is concerned about the Chinese video application TikTok, which has access to the personal information of its young users.
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“ByteDance, owner of the TikTok application, provides its services to a very large number of people, of which a significant proportion of its target clientele are young people,” explained to the Log Evangeline LeBlanc, communications advisor at the Commission d’accès à l’information (CAI).
“Considering the particular vulnerability of the latter and the potential volume of personal information in circulation, the Commission is indeed concerned by certain assertions reported by the media”, she decided.
In mid-June, a report by the media BuzzFeed, according to which Chinese employees of the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, had access to non-public data of American users, shook the political class.
In the United States, senators last week went so far as to call for an investigation into TikTok, which is suspected of carrying out large-scale surveillance.
Experts also worried
In Quebec, cybersecurity experts have shared fears.
“It’s worrying. TikTok does not seem to be very careful about the protection of personal data and there have been strong suspicions of the transfer of personal data to China”, estimates the big boss of StreamScan, Karim Ganame.
According to Martin Lemay, head of security at Devolutions, given the platform, “the data could be accessed by foreign governments and it is easy to create an account to impersonate a person”.
TikTok denies spying
Asked by The newspaperTikTok has denied the accusations of experts and American elected officials, who again want to ban the application of videos.
“TikTok has never shared Canadian user data with the Chinese government, nor would we if asked,” a spokeswoman said in a written statement.
As of next September, companies will have to be more transparent in terms of consent, collection and use of information from their users in Quebec (Bill 25).
