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But the company says it found the timing of the announcement 鈥渃urious,鈥� given that it followed the European Commission鈥檚 decision to ban the app from staff devices, along with similar moves across the border to scrub the app from government devices for those working for federal agencies and more than half of U.S. states.

鈥淚t points to it being a political decision and not, as was asserted, one that was based on privacy and security risks. There was nothing that changed recently, or was revealed about TikTok, that would have led to this being a sudden announcement on a Monday morning,鈥� said Steve de Eyre, TikTok Canada鈥檚 director of public policy and government affairs.

At issue is the fact that TikTok鈥檚 parent company, Bytedance, is headquartered in Beijing, prompting alarm from Canadian, U.S. and European officials, who are concerned the Chinese government could compel companies to hand over user data for intelligence purposes.

That made the timing of this week鈥檚 announcement all the more interesting, de Eyre told the Star, because of recent allegations that Beijing interfered in Canada鈥檚 2019 and 2021 elections.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 just an unrelated story, but I think we鈥檙e being dragged into that because of geopolitical reasons,鈥� he said.

Treasury Board President Mona Fortier has only said the decision to block the app from government devices 鈥� and prevent it from being downloaded in the future 鈥� is a precautionary measure, 鈥済iven concerns about the legal regime that governs the information collected from mobile devices, and is in line with the approach of our international partners.鈥�

But de Eyre wonders how Luelo鈥檚 office arrived at its conclusion when he says no one from the federal government ever contacted TikTok to discuss its privacy and security practices.

鈥淲e also weren鈥檛 asked any questions, or asked for any information, or given an opportunity to refute any of the allegations that are being made. It鈥檚 also not clear to us what information this was based on,鈥� de Eyre said.

Asked repeatedly by the Star to share the chief information officer鈥檚 review, explain what information led to its conclusions, and whether Ottawa had discussed any of its concerns with the company, Treasury Board declined to answer and instead reiterated its Monday statement.

On Wednesday, TikTok chief operating officer V Pappas asked Luelo鈥檚 office for a meeting between Canadian and TikTok officials to review the company鈥檚 practices. De Eyre confirmed to the Star that such a meeting is set to take place soon.

鈥淚 think this decision lacked transparency, accountability, due process,鈥� de Eyre said. 鈥淲e have to differentiate between political decisions and decisions that are based on security and privacy and those shouldn鈥檛 be conflated.鈥�

De Eyre said if Ottawa is so worried about TikTok, it should instead move forward with Bill C-27, which is set to return to the House of Commons next week and would, in part, outline a new privacy law regime that could alter the way TikTok and other platforms operate.

He also rejected concerns that Chinese national intelligence law would force companies to hand over personal data.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 believe these laws are directed at us because we don鈥檛 store user data in China. Canadian user data is stored in the U.S. and in Singapore,鈥� de Eyre said, adding that based on the company鈥檚 publicly available transparency reports, there have been no government requests for data stemming from China.

While a report from the University of Toronto鈥檚 found that 鈥渢here is no overt data transmission to the Chinese government by TikTok,鈥� other researchers have found cause for concern.

Last year, Australian cybersecurity organization found that the app 鈥渄oes not prioritize privacy,鈥� that 鈥減ermissions and device information collection are overly intrusive,鈥� and that there is evidence of 鈥渆xcessive data harvesting.鈥� It also found that some versions of the app have connections to infrastructure in mainland China.