The Canadian government has issued a regulation banning the popular Chinese messaging app WeChat and solutions from Russian security firm Kaspersky from being installed on government mobile devices.
The decision was made due to concerns about privacy and security breaches, and several apps are currently being removed from work devices used by government employees.
It is expected that downloading these apps will be banned in the future as well. However, they will still be allowed to install them on their personal devices,
but will be prohibited from using these devices for public business.
Canada has previously banned the Chinese social media app TikTok, and has had poor relations with China since detaining a key figure from the Chinese company Huawei in 2018.
With the recent banning of several Chinese apps, relations between the two are likely to deteriorate further.
Canada’s decision to prioritize privacy and security can be credited with protecting the privacy of its citizens.
By removing unnecessary apps from government employees’ work devices, it shows an effort to minimize security threats.
Checkpoints
The government did not cite specific security threats or breaches for the banned apps, which may be criticized by some as an overreach.
Could negatively impact diplomatic relations with China, so a diplomatic response strategy is needed