Canada’s federal agency in charge of communications security continued to use TikTok for advertising beyond Feb. 28, the day the government banned the video hosting service on its devices over security concerns. Four other federal agencies also continued TikTok advertising.
In an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons on May 8, the agencies said a third-party agency managed the campaigns, using their devices to access TikTok. Although the federal agencies thus did not technically breach any regulations, some have said it’s sending mixed signals to continue spending ad dollars on the platform.
“The government should not actively enrich platforms that are unaligned with core policy goals,” Vass Bednar, executive director of the Master of Public Policy Program at McMaster University, said in an op-ed for The Globe and Mail earlier this year.
“Following a review of TikTok, the Chief Information Officer of Canada determined that it presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security,” the government announcement on the ban said on February 27, 2023. “TikTok’s data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of the phone.” Some provinces have enacted bans as well.
Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE) spent nearly $33,000 on TikTok advertising in March, on a campaign about online disinformation. It spent more than twice as much in the month after the ban as it did in the whole year leading up to it.
CSE did not advertise on TikTok in 2022, and it spent roughly $14,000 from Jan. 1 to the ban. CSE says it ceased advertising on TikTok on March 31, but it is unclear whether it will consider future campaigns on the platform. CSE did not reply to an Epoch Times request for clarification, as of publication.
The Department of National Defence ran a recruitment ad campaign on TikTok up to March 19. The department said in the Inquiry of Ministry that it did so to reach its target age group of 18–34. The department did not say whether it would stop advertising on TikTok going forward.
Nor did Health Canada, which also ran TikTok ads with the aim of reaching young adults up through March 31, including campaigns for the government’s online food guide kitchen and for mental health. The defence and health agencies did not say how much they spent on the ads.
The Inquiry of Ministry also included spending by Crown corporations. The highest amount spent was by the CBC, at just over $800,000 from Jan. 1, 2022, to March 21, 2023. CBC operates about 30 different TikTok accounts for content and marketing.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spent close to $10,000 from Feb. 9 to March 9 on its International Experience Canada ad campaign that ran on TikTok, among other platforms.
Employment and Social Development Canada continued an ad campaign up through March 19. It said that’s when the campaign ended, but did not indicate an intention to stop using TikTok further. “This platform is in line with ESDC’s skilled trades campaign,” it said.
Bednar noted that TikTok is a cost-effective platform for advertising. “Yes, social media may be cheaper than traditional advertising, but when the avenue chosen conflicts with policy objectives, is it really ‘cost-effective’?”