The Canadian government recently banned Chinese messaging app WeChat and Russian antivirus program Kaspersky from government mobile devices citing privacy and security risks.
A few days ago, the government of the country banned TikTok app for the same reason. However, Ottawa claims that WeChat and Kaspersky have not damaged or stolen government data.
The ban was announced by the Treasury Board, which oversees the country’s public administration, after an assessment by Canada’s Chief Information Officer. According to the chief information officer, applications from Tencent-owned WeChat and Moscow-based Kaspersky pose ‘privacy and security risks that are unacceptable.’
In response, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Canadian government imposed restrictions on this Chinese software without any real evidence citing reasons to maintain information security. This ban is an abuse of government power. Through this, the initiatives of some specific countries are being unreasonably suppressed.
In a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, “We hope Canada will come out of ideological bias and adhere to market principles and create a non-discriminatory, free and fair business environment for Chinese businesses.”
Kaspersky claims they were given no opportunity to address the government’s concerns. What’s more, Kaspersky didn’t even get a warning before the ban was imposed.
The company said in a statement that there was no evidence behind the sanctions imposed against them, nor was it imposed due to any realistic risk. So we assume that these decisions have been taken because of the current geo-political context. In this case, Canada has taken this initiative without proper audit of the quality of Kaspersky products and services.
WeChat has not yet commented on the issue.
Canada’s Treasury Board says it has no evidence that government data has been stolen or compromised through the use of WeChat or Kaspersky.
However, the Treasury Board claims that the process by which these apps collect data from devices is risky.
“The decision to delete and ban the WeChat and Kaspersky apps has been made to keep the Government of Canada’s networks and data safe and secure, and to be consistent with the strategies adopted by our international partners,” the statement said.
