Our recommendation to Canadians is that they should ask questions about this or any app. Frankly, in any situation where their personal information is being sought, they should be asking, “Why do you need it? What will you do with it? Who will you share it with?” In the TikTok investigation, we address these head-on, looking at what the organization is telling Canadians.
It's one thing for citizens to ask questions. Organizations have a big responsibility to be proactive in this transparency. In the TikTok case, we found that the information wasn't clear enough for adults, and it was certainly not clear enough for children, who are a huge part of that market.
The questions should be about the use, the sharing, the purposes, where it's going and who can have access to it. Canadians should ask more of these questions, but organizations should proactively take responsibility for making that information easy to find.