Canada’s privacy czar seeks answers on TikTok policy updates

Canada’s privacy commissioner is looking into whether TikTok’s recent privacy policy updates will impact Canadian users amid questions over the app’s data collection.

“The OPC [Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada] is aware of these new privacy policy changes. It is not clear whether these changes impact Canadian users and OPC officials are currently in contact with TikTok to confirm,” the OPC said in a statement to Global News.

In a privacy policy update issued on Jan. 22, TikTok detailed the information it collects from users of the app, including new plans to collect information about what appears to be more detailed location tracking.

Many users and U.S. media outlets also noted the update states TikTok is collecting information where applicable under local laws surrounding “sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status.”

As part of the app’s transition into new ownership, ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, struck a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump to create a U.S. version of the app, resulting in the sudden change in TikTok’s privacy policies for U.S. users.

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That new ownership deal was finalized last week.

It is not yet clear what changes, if any, Canadian users might see under the new ownership, but it’s not the first time the privacy commissioner has probed the app.

Last September, the OPC released the findings of an investigation surrounding TikTok’s Canadian privacy policies, stating that TikTok “did not adequately explain its data practices to teen and adult users, such that it did not obtain meaningful consent for the collection and use of vast amounts of user data, including sensitive data of younger users, as required under Canadian privacy laws.”

As a result of the investigation, the OPC stated that “TikTok indicated that it had either already taken steps or committed to take steps to improve its privacy practices” and that “the OPC, and its provincial counterparts, have continued to work with TikTok to ensure the final resolution of the matter through its implementation of the recommendations.”