Photo Contribution by Jeremy Vyn

At the end of February, the Government of Canada announced that TikTok would be removed from all government issued devices. The Chief Information Officer of Canada deemed that TikTok’s data collection could result in cyberattacks, according to an article by CBC’s Richard Raycraft. 

You probably heard the news, and it went in one ear and out the other. We’re students, not government officials, so it doesn’t impact us – yet.  

Conestoga College is closely intertwined with Wilfrid Laurier University, especially here at our Brantford campus. Last week, Conestoga made the decision to ban the app on all its devices as well as suspend all TikTok accounts that are associated with the school as reported by CTV News’ Jennifer Baker.  

Baker says that Laurier and the University of Waterloo are watching what happens with this situation, and that these bans are also a result of data and security concerns.  

So, what do these decisions mean for us students? 

Well, as of now there has been no official decision made by Laurier, but with Conestoga making the move, it likely won’t be long until we see some kind of notice from our school.  

Following what is legal, the school can at the most remove TikTok from any school-issued devices such as laptops, phones, tablets, etc., and could likely block devices from being able to access TikTok while on school internet connections.  

While the idea of banning use of an app seems drastic, there really isn’t much of a reason for it to impact your life as a student here at Laurier. However, if you are running social media for a club or school organization, be prepared to switch to Instagram Reels as your main outlet for social media videos because any school affiliated TikTok accounts will end up being removed if Laurier decides to ban the app.  

Another way club, organization and program accounts can get ahead of the possible shut down is to promote other social media platform accounts on your TikTok so that if the school does decide to ban the app, you won’t lose your following and they’ll know where to find you.