Canada announced it is banning TikTok on all government-issued mobile devices from Tuesday, reflecting widening worries over the Chinese-owned video sharing app.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it might be a first step to further action or that it might be it.
"I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones many Canadians from business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices," Trudeau said.
Previously, Canada's federal privacy watchdog and its provincial counterparts in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec announced an investigation to delve into whether the app complies with Canadian privacy legislation.
Canadian Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said the federal government will also block the app from being downloaded on official devices in the future.
Fortier said in statement the Chief Information Officer of Canada determined that it "presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security."
TikTok is wildly popular with young people, but its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Beijing could use it to collect data on Western users or push pro-China narratives and misinformation.
The European Union's executive branch informed last week it has temporarily banned TikTok from phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure.
The EU's action follows similar moves in the U.S., where more than half of the states and Congress have banned TikTok from official government devices.
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