Blair warns of dangers of Wechat and Weibo
Posted info could be used for ‘hostile activities’
• Canadians should be wary of using Chinese social media platforms because information posted there may be used for “hostile activities” by foreign states, says the federal public safety minister.
If you regularly post on Chinese social media platforms such as Wechat, Weibo or even Tiktok, the Canadian government has a stern warning for you: be careful, because hostile countries may be watching in an attempt to use that data against Canada’s interests.
During a meeting of the parliamentary committee on Canada-china relations Thursday evening, Liberal MP Jean Yip asked Public Safety Minister Bill Blair if Canadians should be concerned about using social media platforms that are owned by Chinese companies.
“There is a legitimate concern that sometimes the information that’s publicly available on those platforms can be used by the hostile activities of state actors,” Blair responded, adding that Canadians should exercise “caution” on those applications.
This is the first time a cabinet minister has so clearly spelt out concerns about all Chinese-owned social media platforms, which combined have millions of users in Canada.
Many data and privacy experts have warned over the years that these apps harvest large amounts of data from their users (not unlike North American companies like Facebook or Google). But there is an added concern with platforms like Wechat due to the sweeping powers the Chinese government has to seize data from companies based on its soil.
Earlier in January, the Winnipeg Free Press revealed that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have resisted joining Tiktok — an app that allows users to post short videos and “duet” those of others which has exploded in popularity among North American youth — because it considers the app to pose “huge security risks”.
This came months after the U.S. government announced it was banning Tiktok and Wechat, originally a messaging and calling app that now offers a host of other services, due to national security concerns.
At the time, the Trump administration said it was concerned that Beijing was exploiting the apps and the troves of data they collect in order to gather information about users and spread Chinese propaganda.
The owners of both applications at the time, respectively Bytedance and Tencent Holdings, gave assurances that the Chinese government did not have access to its user data and that in Tiktok’s case, it was never even hosted in China.
In his opening statement, Blair repeatedly warned of China’s increasing attempts of foreign interference in Canada, as well as its role in the current opioid crisis. But he dodged questions by opposition MPS on whether his government would ban Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from Canada’s 5G network.
“While foreign interference is top of mind for my portfolio, it is by no means the only issue on the plate. It’s no secret that China is one of the main source countries of fentanyl, as well as the precursor chemicals used to make this highly potent and deadly synthetic opioids,” Blair said.
“Over the past four years, the Canada Border Services Agency has made 335 seizures totalling over 42.2 kilograms, and of these seizures, 129 listed China as the source country of those drugs.”
Opposition MPS also grilled Blair about a report by that Globe & Mail that Canada had outsourced handling of its visa application centre in the Chinese capital to a company that is owned by Beijing police.
The minister was unable to say which government officials had awarded the original contract to VFS Global, which then dealt with Chinese
police-owned Beijing Shuangxiong Foreign Service Co, because he said it was done in 2008, before his government came to power.
When pressed multiple times on if he had concerns about the contract, Blair repeated that he’d been assured no data had been taken from Canadian files.
“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has an IT department that provided assurances that all our information is in fact secure. There has been no suggestion of espionage or any concern raised, only the fact that a Chinese official entity was involved in this company,”
Blair said.
“So your government is totally satisfied with this arrangement and satisfied that it should continue in perpetuity?” NDP MP Jack Harris asked.
The minister responded without saying if the contract with the Beijing police-owned company would continue indefinitely.
“I’m satisfied that IRCC has not identified any concerns and they have provided strong assurances that Canadian data and Canadian interests are well protected in the system they have in place,” he said.