OTTAWA- Recently Canada banned Chinese messaging application WeChat and Russian antivirus program Kaspersky on government-issued mobile devices due to privacy and security risks, but said government information had not been compromised.
After an assessment by Canada’s chief information officer the ban was announced that Tencent-owned (0700.HK) WeChat and applications made by Moscow-based Kaspersky present an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security. This was said by the Treasury Board of Canada, who manages the public administration.
China’s foreign ministry mentioned that the Canadian government had issued a ban on Chinese enterprises without proper evidence, under the guise of maintaining data security, which is a typical generalization of the concept of national security.
It said that the ban abused national power and unreasonably suppresses the behavior of enterprises in certain nations.
Recently at a regular press a spokesperson Wang Wenbin mentioned that, they hope the Canadian side will discard ideological prejudices, abide by the principles of market economy and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises.
Kaspersky said that, they were surprised and disappointed and that the decision was made without any warning or an opportunity for the firm to address the government’s concerns.
The company said that, there has been no proof or due process to otherwise justify these actions, they are highly unsupported and a response to the geopolitical climate rather than a comprehensive evaluation of the integrity of Kaspersky’s products and services.
The Treasury Board said that, they have no proof that the government information has been compromised, but the collection methods of the applications provide considerable access to a device’s contents, and risks of using them were clear.
The decision to remove and block the WeChat and the Kaspersky applications was made to make sure that the government of Canada networks and data remain safe and protected and are in line with the method of our international partners.
The applications will be taken away from the government-issued mobile devices and users will be blocked from downloading them in the future.
Canada banned TikTok in February, which was a short-video app owned by Chinese company Bytedance, from government-issued devices due to similar privacy and security concerns.
