UBC encourages students to uninstall TikTok app, citing keystroke capture, data risks

The TikTok app logo seen in Tokyo, on Sept. 28, 2020. (Kiichiro Sato / AP

The University of British Columbia is encouraging students to uninstall the TikTok app from their mobile phones, citing concerns about data sharing with the social media platform's Chinese parent company.

Instead, the school recommends students use a web browser to access TikTok content.

The school said in a statement issued last week that the app is one of UBC's fastest-growing social media platforms, used by students, staff and faculty for entertainment, research, outreach and recruitment.

However, it said the video platform has sparked security and privacy concerns about its data collection practices and data sharing with corporate parent ByteDance.

Although UBC said these risks are "not yet" proven, its privacy and information security teams “believe that TikTok does pose a risk to UBC's systems and its stakeholders.”

It said the university had recently evaluated “the use of certain TikTok marketing features” and concluded they did not comply with British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

This was “due to the sharing of personal information with TikTok without the required contractual protection on TikTok's use of the data.”

The statement said that “of particular concern” was a reference in TikTok's terms of service that the app may capture keystroke patterns used on a device, and that this could allow usernames and passwords to be exposed.

UBC's official TikTok account, which has over 4,000 followers, continues to operate, posting a video featuring cherry blossom scenery on campus last Wednesday, the day after the university issued its warning.

The school said it is not considering a ban on TikTok on university-owned devices, although it notes that federal and B.C. authorities have placed such bans on government-owned devices.

UBC spokesman Matthew Ramsey said in a statement the school is monitoring the situation closely.

“While we recognize the security and privacy risks of using TikTok, the nature of these risks has not yet been proven and has not changed overnight.”

Canada has joined a growing number of countries in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region that have banned the app from government devices as privacy and cybersecurity concerns increase.

U.S. officials said the TikTok app is a national risk with the FBI and Federal Communications Commission warning that ByteDance could share TikTok user data, such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers, with China's authoritarian government.

With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2023.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.