Members of the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) have been directed to delete TikTok from their work phones.
The service’s official TikTok account has also been paused until a review by privacy regulators is completed, a WRPS spokesperson said in an email Tuesday.
The social media giant is currently under investigation by federal and provincial privacy authorities over its use and collection of users’ personal information.
“We are awaiting results from those reviews,” WRPS director of corporate affairs Cherri Greeno said in an email. “As well, our information and technology department is also reviewing any potential security risks.”
Members of the Guelph Police Service (GPS) have also been instructed to delete the app from their phones.
“After a careful review we have decided to follow the lead of other levels of government, and the City of Guelph, and have banned TikTok from all GPS devices,” Scott Tracey, GPS spokesperson said in an email.
The Guelph Police Service did not have an official TikTok account.
The move to review TikTok policy is on the heels of the federal, and some provincial governments, banning the app on work-issued devices.
Locally, the tri-cities and the City of Guelph have all said a review of policies is being undertaken.
Tech experts have said the app has the capability to collect information from mobile devices, which could pose a security threat.
According to Ryan Westman, the senior manager of threat intelligence at Waterloo-based cybersecurity company eSentire, user data harvested through the app could lead to a security or privacy threat.
“Businesses like ByteDance in China are required to work with their intelligence agency to provide support, so that means all the data that TikTok collects could be very well being shared with their intelligence agency,” said Westman.
TikTok is owned by China-based tech giant ByteDance.
