The Quebec government followed suit at the federal level on Monday evening, announcing in turn that it will ban the installation of TikTok on government phones as of Tuesday.
• Read also: Ottawa bans TikTok from government phones as of Tuesday
“The security of information and the protection of data held by public administration bodies remain an absolute priority for the Government of Quebec and that is why we are adopting this preventive measure,” announced the Minister of Cybersecurity and du Numérique, Éric Caire, in a press release published in the evening.
All government-owned cell phones used by civil servants are affected by this new measure, which turns out to be a copy of the one decreed by Ottawa on Monday morning.
“In light of the research and analyzes carried out concerning the use of TikTok, it seems necessary to us to apply the precautionary principle and no longer allow the installation and use of this application for the moment”, added the minister Cairo.
Quebec was unable to specify on Monday evening whether the new measure affects the cell phones of elected provincial officials.
“More details on the directives and their scope will be communicated tomorrow”, was limited to indicating the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital.
In the middle of the evening, the TikTok accounts of Prime Minister François Legault and some of his ministers, such as Sonia Lebel (Treasury), Jean-François Roberge (French language, Canadian Relations and Secularism) and Mathieu Lacombe (Culture and Communications) were still accessible.
At the federal level, the decision only concerns government employees, but notably led elected Conservatives – including leader Pierre Poilievre – to delete their TikTok accounts.
Public service employees who have non-government cell phones can continue to use the short video sharing application.
“The use of social media for personal use and on non-government devices remains a personal and assumed choice,” said the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital.
The Canadian and American governments are concerned regarding what the Chinese company behind TikTok can do with the data collected on the sidelines of using the application.
