New Brunswick joins Maritime provinces in banning TikTok from government-issued devices

This Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020 photo shows the icon for TikTok taken in New York. (AP Photo)

All three Maritime provinces have now banned TikTok from government-issued mobile devices, with New Brunswick being the last to join in on the decision.

In a news release Thursday, New Brunswick's chief information officer, Liz Byrne-Zwicker, says the decision is a precautionary measure to ensure the private information that government employees have access to on a daily basis is not threatened.

“The protection of personal information is of the utmost importance," said Byrne-Zwicker.

Byrne-Zwicker says, when the app is installed on a mobile device, TikTok uses data collection methods that enable broad access to the device's content, which has been called into question by experts.

There are also concerns about the legal regime that governs the information collected.

At this time, Byrne-Zwicker says there is no indication that any private information has been compromised through government-issued devices.

New Brunswick's decision aligns with the direction of other provinces and follows the recent decision by the federal government's chief information officer, who determined that TikTok presents an "unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security."

In addition to being wiped from all government-issued devices, the province says TikTok will also be blocked from being downloaded onto devices.

In Nova Scotia, TikTok was banned from provincial government devices on Tuesday, while the Prince Edward Island government made the decision a day later.

This comes after Ottawa announced a TikTok ban on federal government devices on Monday.

Since then, most provinces have banned TikTok on government devices.

In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson called the Canadian government's ban "curious," adding Ottawa didn’t contact the company directly with any concerns.

Canada’s move to ban TikTok from government devices is in line with recent orders within in the United States and European Union.

As for municipal governments, the City of Saint John says, as of Wednesday, it is blocking the app from being installed on all city-issued electronic devices.

The City of Charlottetown also plans to ban TikTok from municipal devices.

Officials in Fredericton, Halifax and Moncton, N.B., told CTV News on Wednesday that they’re monitoring the situation.