Achi news desk-
A new poll indicates that 51 percent of Canadians support banning the social media app TikTok, after a US bill that aims to do just that passed in the House of Representatives.
Canada has ordered its own national security review of TikTok, something the Liberal government revealed after passing the US bill earlier this month.
Just under a third of respondents, 28 per cent, said they would oppose a ban, according to a Leger poll of 1,605 Canadians conducted between March 23 and 25. samples.
Younger Canadians, who are also more likely to use TikTok, are less supportive of a ban than their older counterparts. Almost half of those between the ages of 18 and 34 said they were on TikTok, compared to 12 percent of poll respondents over the age of 55.
“In terms of those who support the ban and those who have specific concerns about TikTok, it’s mostly among older Canadians who don’t use TikTok,” said Christian Bourque, Leger’s executive vice-president.
Among younger Canadians, 42 per cent favor a ban, compared to 59 per cent of those aged 55 and over.
Bourque said messages from the US from politicians pushing the legislation to ban the app could be influencing opinion north of the border.
He said that “TikTok’s ownership outside of the United States, and specifically in China, is what is fueling a lot of the concerns south of the border.”
“It seems to be trickling down to Canada anyway.”
TikTok is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology company ByteDance Ltd. The concern behind the US bill is that the Chinese government could demand access to TikTok’s American user data because of national security laws that force organizations in China to assist in information gathering.
The bill, which still has to pass the US Senate, would ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells its stake in the business.
Canada’s national security review is unrelated to the US bill and was launched without public disclosure in September. The government has indicated that TikTok would be subject to “closer scrutiny” through a new policy on foreign investments in the interactive digital media sector.
In Leger’s poll, 56 percent of Canadian respondents said they had heard about national security concerns related to TikTok from various countries.
Almost three quarters of those who were aware of those reports said they were concerned, but the majority, 56 percent, have not changed how they use TikTok.
While 21 percent have reduced the amount of time they spend on the app, only seven percent have dropped TikTok entirely. Bourque noted that less than one per cent of Canadians.
In total, 26 percent of respondents said they are on TikTok, and 33 percent of those with children said they allow their children to use the app.
In Canada, the app appears to be far less popular than social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, which are used by 83 and 58 percent of those surveyed, respectively.
But when it comes to protecting their personal data, social media users are also more skeptical of those more popular apps. More than three quarters of Facebook users and 70 percent of those on Instagram said they were concerned about data protection. That’s compared to 66 percent of those on TikTok.
“Canadians generally seem to have concerns about social media as a whole,” said Bourque. “It seems like it’s something that’s beyond maybe what they’ve seen or heard specifically for TikTok.”
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on March 29, 2024.
