Parliamentary Hearing on TikTok: CCP Uses Big Data to Interfere in Canada, CSIS Head Says
China uses big data collected from social media platforms like TikTok to engage in foreign interference, raising national security concerns for Canada, CSIS Director Daniel Rogers says.
“While government use of data in Canada is subject to ethical, legal, and privacy considerations, authoritarian states are not bound by these limitations.”
Rogers cited China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, which compels Chinese citizens and businesses to cooperate with state intelligence operations, including providing all data to the state apparatus.
The primary concern is that the parent company of TikTok Canada, ByteDance, is a Chinese entity that is subject to PRC laws, Rogers said. That could compel the company to collect data or use of the platform in ways that align with the interests of the Chinese regime, he added.
“It is certainly foreseeable that data held by TikTok Canada could … end up in the hands of the People’s Republic of China,” he said.
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The order followed a national security review of TikTok under the Investment Canada Act (ICA), launched last year to assess whether foreign investments could pose a risk to Canada’s national security.
The review, which incorporated insights from CSIS, determined that permitting TikTok Canada to maintain its operations would “cause injury to Canada’s national security,” Rogers said.
Conservative MPs, including Cooper and the Tories’ ethics critic Michael Barrett, have accused the Liberal government of inconsistency in its approach to the app. The government banned TikTok from all government-issued devices in February 2023, but Canadians are still free to use the platform.
“It just seems odd that the government would say [TikTok] is so dangerous that we have to close the office, but it’s OK for children to continue to use the app,” Barrett said during a Dec. 10 ethics committee meeting. “What I’m driving at here is they need to pick a lane. Either it’s OK, it’s safe for Canadians, or it’s not.”
The Epoch Times contacted Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne and his department for comment, but didn’t immediately hear back.
Rogers agreed the removal of TikTok Canada doesn’t prevent Canadians from accessing the app, nor does it eliminate the user data the platform retains.
He said Canada and its allies should “exercise heightened caution when agreeing to share their data with platforms linked to the PRC.”
