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CBC NEWS: NDP reactivates TikTok account despite foreign interference risk and security concerns

 

The inquiry heard earlier this month from NDP member of Parliament Jenny Kwan, herself a target of foreign interference by China. She said she doesn't know how effective the government's TikTok ban can be, since it does not extend to personal devices.

"In her opinion, by engaging with the platform, Canadian politicians are providing TikTok with relevant data points and legitimizing a 'brainwashing machine' used to push PRC [People's Republic of China] narratives on a variety of subjects," Kwan's inquiry witness statement says.

Top secret CSIS note details major concerns with TikTok

According to a top secret briefing note drafted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and made public through the inquiry, CSIS warned in December 2022 that TikTok could be exploited by the Chinese government to bolster its influence and power in Canada.

The app, which is owned by the Chinese-based company ByteDance, can gather sensitive user data, CSIS said in the briefing note.

"Despite assurances to the contrary, personal data on TikTok users is accessible to China," CSIS said.

The app collects a wide range of user information, including biometric data like facial geometry, iris scans, voice patterns and fingerprints. TikTok also gathers information from a person's phone, including GPS location, browsing history and technical specifics like the device's serial number, CSIS said.

"While ByteDance claims that all TikTok user data is stored in the United States and Singapore— not in China — ByteDance's servers are all located in China," CSIS wrote.

• Half of Canadians support TikTok ban, with U.S. concerns 'trickling' north, poll suggests

CSIS also said TikTok censored topics related to democratic values and failed to remove 90 per cent of disinformation ads about the 2022 U.S. midterm elections.

Hill Times NEWS: Feds have ‘duty to protect and warn’ parliamentarians from threats ‘in any form,’ says NDP MP Jenny Kwan

 

 

CBC: House won't hold priority debate on MPs implicated in foreign interference report: Speaker

Kwan argued that as long as the names of those politicians remain secret, Canadians will lose trust in their elected officials, undermining MPs' ability to do their jobs. "The report did not provide any names and as such all 338 members of this House, including those who have since left this chamber, are under a cloud of suspicion," Kwan said in June.

But Fergus ruled Monday that Kwan had failed to demonstrate "concretely" that keeping the names secret has impeded MPs' ability to carry out their duties.

"While I understand that findings presented in the NSICOP report are serious and appear to create suspicions about certain members, that in itself is not a basis to establish this question of privilege merits priority of consideration over all other House business," he said.

In order to be considered a "prima facie" violation of privilege, an issue must also be raised in a timely manner. In his ruling, Fergus pointed out that Kwan raised the issue two weeks after the NSICOP report was released.

Canadian Press NEWS: Canada has become 'playground' for foreign interference, Tory MP Chong tells inquiry

New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan, who has been identified as a target of clandestine Chinese influence activities, expressed concern at the inquiry about the ability of federal structures to address foreign interference.

"We actually really have to catch up with other jurisdictions."

Kwan cited a need for an "independent structure, one that is accountable and divorced from politics," to take the lead and drive actions that must be taken to protect Canada's national interest.

CBC NEWS: O'Toole says he considered expelling a Conservative senator over foreign influence concerns

 

Testifying in Ottawa before the inquiry into foreign interference, O'Toole said one of his MPs was told by a local mayor that a Conservative senator was actively working on behalf of a Chinese government-owned company.

"There was a member of our upper chamber caucus that an MP brought to me that he had been directly or indirectly promoting or lobbying an interest of a Chinese state-owned enterprise in a riding in Ontario," O'Toole told the inquiry.

"There had been previous stories about sponsored travel and other things that led me to have some serious concerns considering some of the subjects that we were discussing within caucus. But it was that issue in a town in Ontario, potentially advocating for an economic interest, that really forced me to make a decision about some concerns about that member."

Globe NEWS: India and China use illegal funds and disinformation to sway politicians, CSIS report says

China and India are deeply engaged in attempting to influence diaspora communities and elect MPs sympathetic to their interests through illicit funding and disinformation campaigns, according to a CSIS report tabled at the public inquiry into foreign interference.

The inquiry has already heard testimony about the broad range of China’s foreign-influence activities, but the new Canadian Security Intelligence Service document details how heavily involved the government of India is in trying to meddle in Canadian domestic affairs and undermine support for the Khalistan movement that seeks an independent Sikh state in Punjab.

CPAC NEWS: NDP MP Jenny Kwan testifies before the Public Inquiry on Foreign Interference

Globe NEWS: Foreign-interference inquiry resumes with focus on targeting of MPs, how system can be fixed

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