A recent survey shows that 51 percent of Canadians are in favor of prohibiting the social media app. TikTokThis comes after a U.S. bill passed in the House of Representatives aimed at doing just that.
Following the passage of the U.S. bill, Canada has initiated its own review of TikTok for national security reasons, a decision the Liberal government made earlier this month.
The Leger poll of 1,605 Canadians conducted from March 23 to 25 found that 28 percent of respondents oppose a ban, and it's uncertain due to the nature of online polls.
Younger Canadians, who are more likely to use TikTok, are less supportive of a ban than older people. Almost half of those aged 18 to 34 use TikTok, compared to 12 percent of those over 55 in the poll.
Christian Bourque, executive vice-president of Leger, stated that the support for the ban and concerns about TikTok mainly come from older Canadians who do not use the app.
In contrast to those 55 and older, 42 percent of younger Canadians are in favor of a ban.
Bourque suggested that the messaging from U.S. politicians advocating for banning the app may be influencing opinions in Canada.
He explained that the fact that TikTok’s ownership is outside the U.S. and specifically in China fuels a lot of the concerns in the U.S., and it appears to be impacting Canada as well.
It seems like these concerns are making their way into Canada.
TikTok is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology company ByteDance Ltd. The worry behind the U.S. bill is that the Chinese government may demand access to the data of TikTok's American users due to national security laws in China.
The U.S. bill, which still needs to pass the Senate, would ban TikTok unless ByteDance sells its stake in the business.
The Canadian national security review is separate from the U.S. bill and began in September without public disclosure. The government has indicated that TikTok would undergo 'enhanced scrutiny' through a new policy on foreign investments in the interactive digital media sector.
In the Leger poll, 56 percent of Canadian respondents said they are aware of national security concerns related to TikTok from various countries.
Nearly 75 percent of those aware of these reports expressed concern, but the majority, 56 percent, have not changed their TikTok usage.
While 21 percent have reduced their time on the app, only seven percent have completely stopped using TikTok. Bourque noted that this makes up less than one percent of Canadians.
In total, 26 percent of respondents reported using TikTok, and 33 percent of those with children said they allow their kids to use the app.
In Canada, TikTok seems to be much less popular than social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, which are used by 83 and 58 percent of those surveyed, respectively.
However, when it comes to safeguarding their personal information, social media users are also more doubtful about those more popular apps. Over three-quarters of Facebook users and 70 percent of Instagram users expressed worry about data protection. This is in contrast to 66 percent of TikTok users.
“Canadians overall appear to have concerns about social media in general,” Bourque stated. “It seems to be something that’s beyond perhaps what they’ve seen or heard specifically regarding TikTok.”
