The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has teamed up with several provinces to jointly investigate Chinese social media app TikTok.
The federal Privacy Commissioner is working with privacy commissioners in the provinces of B.C., Alberta, and Quebec to look into the practices of the popular short-form video streaming service.
The government agencies say they are examining whether TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, complies with Canadian privacy laws.
Specifically, TikTok is being investigated to determine whether consent is being obtained for the collection, use and disclosure of Canadians’ personal information.
The Privacy Commissioner said that the investigation will also determine whether ByteDance meets Canada’s corporate transparency guidelines when collecting personal information from users.
TikTok has been accused of privacy violations around the world because the Chinese government has a stake in ByteDance, and authorities can access its user data.
Some lawmakers in the U.S. have claimed that TikTok is a tool for Chinese authorities to spy on Americans and have called for a ban of the social media app.
ByteDance is a privately held company. TikTok is one of the world’s most popular social media platforms with more than one billion monthly active users.
