Hamilton’s public school board bans TikTok on work devices

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board says it is following the federal and provincial government’s lead in banning TikTok from work devices.

The Chinese-owned video sharing app will be prohibited from devices provided by the HWDSB at the end of the day Friday, according to a news release.

“We recognize the concerns of both public officials and private citizens regarding this platform and felt like this was the decision that needed to be made at this time,” said Matthew Gerard, associate director of support services at the HWDSB.

The public school board says the ban only applies to board-issued devices for staff and students, not personal mobile phones.

It also confirmed there have been no data breaches at HWDSB related to TikTok as the school board does not have an account or advertise on the platform.

READ MORE: Ontario bans TikTok on government-owned devices

HWDSB’s decision follows an announcement Thursday from the Ontario government that the app would be prohibited on government devices.

The Canadian government banned the app last week on government devices following a review by Canada’s chief information officer.

All of the provinces have since followed suit, with Ontario the last to announce its decision.

The Chinese government has a stake in TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, and Chinese laws allow the country to demand access to user data.

The company that owns TikTok maintains that it does not share data with China’s government and its data is not held in that country.

READ MORE: City of Hamilton bans TikTok on work phones pending federal probe