The Canadian government has chosen to ban TikTok from government devices for “security concerns”. The move seems to be pure performance.
Security Theatre is a term that was coined by Bruce Schneier in the mid-2000’s. The term became widely adopted and was popularized at this time when tensions were heightened from 9/11. Essentially, airport security ramped up to have revamped metal detectors, requirements to remove things like water bottles and nail clippers, and randomly selecting passengers for enhanced screening. The problem with a lot of these measures is the fact that none of them even made a difference in making airline passengers any safer. It was just performance that was more about perception than actual security practices.
If any of this sounds completely bizarre, just check out this 2015 article about the TSA failing to detect threats 95% of the time. To put it bluntly, there is a reason why the term “security theatre” is so widely adopted terminology in the security community. The failures of the Transport Safety Administration (TSA) in the US provided a spectacular example of this.
Of course, security theatre isn’t exclusively tied to airport security in the post 9/11 era. There are plenty of examples of security theatre in many different industries. Many examples are not quite as dramatic as the TSA example, but the terminology still stands.
That terminology seems to be standing in the case of TikTok. As we noted yesterday, numerous accusations have been made against TikTok about security and privacy concerns. Despite the considerable time and number of legal battles in the US, no evidence has ever been turned up publicly showing that TikTok is of a particular security of privacy risk. Yet, many politicians – especially Republicans – have been bent on banning the app entirely in the country – moves that have been seen as purely performative rather than anything that protects personal information or security.
Yet, that didn’t stop investigations being sparked in Canada, resulting in numerous allegations that TikTok was of a particular threat to Canadian security and privacy. At most, so far, is that TikTok has ties to China. An appropriate response to that would be “and…?” Sadly, the ByteDance parent company being in China is literally the only reason to say that TikTok has security concerns. Was there a security audit of the app specifically to spark these allegations? Doesn’t sound like it. Was there new information that sparked a need for this level of scrutiny? Not really.
Some TikTok critics have said that TikTok might be using personal information for advertising purposes and tracking the behaviour of its users. The answer to that is, once again, “and…?” After all, this is industry standard activity across many apps and platforms. YouTube monitors people’s activity. Facebook uses tracking technology for targeted advertising purposes. Twitter tracks users for their advertising. Yet, you don’t see this same level of up and arms reaction to those platforms like you are seeing with TikTok.
Further, we’ve seen other apps do sketchy things with people’s personal information. For instance, there was the recent scandal surrounding the Tim Hortons app. That didn’t spark calls to ban the app. Back in January, the Home Depot misused people’s personal information, yet we’re not seeing calls to ban their apps.
Yet, the Canadian government has decided to ban TikTok from government devices. From the CBC:
The federal government is removing and blocking the video-sharing platform TikTok from all federal government devices, citing security reasons.
In an email sent to Global Affairs employees Monday, department officials said the Chief Information Officer of Canada made the decision following a review. The review found that TikTok’s data collection methods could lead to cyber attacks, the email said.
The app will be deleted and blocked on all government-issued mobile devices on Feb. 28. The National Post first reported the story.
“The Government of Canada continuously works to ensure the cyber security of our networks by identifying threats and vulnerabilities, including those on social media platforms,” the email said.
“The government will continue to monitor the situation and will work with partners to keep the information on our systems and networks secure.”
Some broadcast news networks have, on top of that, started openly asking if the whole country should ban the app as well.
Now, to be fair, it’s hard to find many examples where the TikTok app would be needed for government devices. It’s possible that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) can use it as part of their investigations for tax evasion. After all, if an agent calls someone and that person says that they are living out of a box in an alley way with not a nickel to their name, yet is posting video’s to TikTok showcasing the million dollar sports car and the mansion that person just bought, that would be useful information for someone trying to enforce tax laws (you laugh, but I happen to know that similar stories aren’t really unheard of in that agency. If a CRA agent reads this, I’m sure they are nodding knowingly at that even).
Still, there is probably a laundry list of reasons that are far better than vague “security reasons”. What’s more, it was only just the other day that a probe was announced, yet the government has already drawn the conclusion that it’s a security concern and that the app should be banned because of it. If that’s not guilt upon accusation, it’s pretty darn close if you ask me.
What’s more, it doesn’t even look like TikTok has even had a chance to respond to any of this. It sounds like TikTok is basically asking, “What security concerns are you even talking about?” Moreover, the word is that the company has availed themselves to the government to address the concerns, but that is as far as things have gotten.
Of course, the moves by the Canadian government appears to be more political than anything else. The idea seems to be to influence Canadian’s into not using the app. After all, the average consumer, when they see news stories like this, is going to be rightfully asking if the app is safe. After all, if there is little context being presented publicly, the average Canadian is going to have even less and possibly just assume that the media and the government is telling them that the app is not safe.
Responsible journalists such as myself, however, are asking for evidence that something untoward is happening specifically with TikTok. What is TikTok doing specifically that warrants this kind of special attention? We still have no answers to this. It sounds like the Canadian government is, more than anything else, blindly playing follow the leader with other countries and taking steps to ban the app solely because others have done it, rather than deciding for themselves that such a decision is warranted.
What’s more, even if TikTok is somehow banned across the country (I’m not sure how that would even legally work with current Canadian laws), Canadian’s would not be any safer than they would be before such a ban would take place. What is needed is to move Bill C-27 forward and work in making that bill better. Currently, that privacy reform bill continues to remain stalled due to a multi-year long effort by the government to drag their feet on the issue.
At any rate, all of this smacks of starting with an accusation, acting on that accusation, then working out the details and finding evidence later. It’s a really bad order for any investigation. Have we, as a country, really learned much from the failures of airport security in the 9/11 era? From what is so far presented in this TikTok investigation, the answer appears to be, “not much.”
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
