I've been told that I have a face for radio. As it happens, I spent a couple of mornings this week on radio interviews with national news stations, in an attempt demystify "the TikTok situation" for the Canadian public.

Click to read referenced article: Canada's TikTok bans on government devices are spreading. Here’s what you need to know - The Globe and Mail



Far be it of me to pretend to understand anything about government diplomacy, but it seems that ethically, Canadians need a bit more transparency on 3 key issues:

Question #1. What was TikTok (or any other social media app for that matter) doing on the work phones of government employees? Is TikTok a vendor that went through proper procurement process, including the security due diligence that goes along with it? Because in most situations where software is loaded on work devices, a service is being provided, even though the details of the value delivery chain remain fuzzy.

Question #2. Why did our investigative bodies and regulatory agencies wait until a known privacy invasive app was being enjoyed by over 3 million Canadians before finally initiating a review or the personal information being collected by its parent company, Bytedance? Optically, it seems like a poor order of priorities.

Question #3. Since Canada played host to a certain Huawei executive in recent years, China has been lowering the bar on aggressive verbal rhetoric against our country. Now that the public is sensitized to spy balloons, is incendiary language designed to escalate the geopolitical temperature the best way to take a moral stand?

Shouldn't politicians instead show some concern about the mental health impact on young Canadians who are spending more than 11 hours/week on social media apps?

Perhaps more to the point, has anyone mentioned the productivity impact of those government work phones running social media apps?

Just wondering.