In December, Forbes reported that TikTok had spied on several of its journalists who were covering ByteDance by comparing their location information with that of workers suspected of acting as confidential sources.

In June 2022, BuzzFeed revealed leaked audio from internal meetings that showed China-based employees of ByteDance had 'repeatedly' accessed non-public data from American users, including journalists. Some experts are worried that sensitive information could be exposed when the app is downloaded, especially on government devices. TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance which has faced accusations that it collects users' data and hands it over to the Chinese government. Which countries have banned TikTok, and why? So, why is TikTok being banned and how serious is the threat? They cited an 'unacceptable' level of risk to privacy and security. On Monday, Canada followed the European Union's three main institutions (the European Commission, Council, and Parliament) and the United States by banning TikTok from government devices.

But over these past few weeks, there have been growing concerns for many Western governments over the platform’s Chinese ownership. The social media app TikTok has become a dominant force, especially when influencing teenagers.

Banned tiktok