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Intelligence chief warns Canadians that China can use TikTok to spy on them
In some of his most hawkish comments to date, the head of Canada's intelligence agency is warning Canadians — including teenagers — against using the wildly popular video app TikTok.
"My answer as director of [the Canadian Security Intelligence Service] is that there is a very clear strategy on the part of the government of China ... to be able to acquire ... personal information from anyone around the world," said CSIS director David Vigneault in an interview with CBC's The House airing Saturday.
"As an individual, I would say that I would absolutely not recommend someone have TikTok."
Vigneault said it's "very clear" from the app's design that data gleaned from its users "is available to the government of China."
"Most people can say, 'Why is it a big deal for a teenager now to have their data [on TikTok]?' Well in five years, in 10 years, that teenager will be a young adult, will be engaged in different activities around the world," he told host Catherine Cullen.
"If you are, for whatever reason, getting in the crosshairs of the [People's Republic of China], they will have a lot of information about you."
His comments come a week after CSIS released an annual report that warned about Chinese President Xi Jinping's growing extraterritorial reach.
The report said the Chinese president has introduced provisions giving Beijing the ability to control data in China, and expansive laws that require Chinese citizens anywhere in the world to assist and co-operate with China's intelligence services.
"They're using big data analytics, they have amazing computer farms crunching the data, they are developing artificial intelligence ... based on using this data," Vigneault said. "The ultimate goal is always to protect the interests of the Chinese Communist Party. And so from that point of view, in many ways, this is a threat to the way we live."
Vigneault is just the latest Western official to raise concerns about TikTok putting sensitive user data in the hands of the Chinese government.
TikTok did not respond to CBC's request for comment. Read the full story here.
Unparliamentary behaviour
(Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)
Chen Ching-hui, centre, a member of Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang, is tackled by lawmaker Chung Chia-pin of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party as Speaker Han Kuo-yu, second from left, and others look on. The scuffle took place Friday at the legislative building in the capital Taipei during a vote on a parliamentary reform bill.
In brief
An unusually early start to the wildfire season in British Columbia has unleashed record-setting carbon emissions in the province for May, according to a global monitoring agency. The European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service released new data on Thursday, showing wildfire emissions in B.C. are already the highest for the month compared with the past 22 years, when the agency's record keeping began. "Following the highly impactful wildfires that burned across Canada in 2023, the scale and intensity of the current fires in British Columbia is highly concerning so early in the season," said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist with Copernicus. "The scale of the ongoing fires, and their impacts on local communities and the atmosphere, underscore the urgent need for continuous monitoring and assessment." Just halfway through the month, wildfire emissions in B.C. this May have already surpassed twice the previous highest recorded, with Canada's total emissions also one of the highest on record, according to Copernicus. Read the full story here.
When Robbie Sherren, 40, died on May 7, he became the first Canadian adult to donate his heart after cardiac or circulatory death. The legacy is helping his parents cope and igniting a new approach to save lives in this country, doctors say. Normally, hearts can only be donated in Canada after brain or neurological death, where the heart continues to beat after the patient is declared deceased. But within hours of that initial "no," while Robbie was still on life support, the Kingston, Ont., chapter of Trillium, the province's organ and tissue donation agency, stepped in with an idea: after the heart stopped beating, remove it, give it blood and use a special resuscitation box to keep it warm, beating and viable with oxygen and nutrients while en route to the recipient. Read the full story here.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began addressing a solemn ceremony in Jerusalem earlier this week commemorating the country's dead from wars and other hostilities, Nir Galon rose to his feet and proceeded with a silent, one-man protest. Standing near the rear of the open-air auditorium, the 43-year-old Jerusalem IT entrepreneur unfurled a large Israeli flag with the date Oct. 7 etched in red and held it aloft until Netanyahu finished speaking. Like many Israelis, Galon blames Netanyahu for not preventing the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, which left more than 1,200 dead and resulted in the capture of more than 250 hostages. Israel responded with a ferocious military campaign in Gaza that has killed upwards of 35,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry. Talks on a ceasefire along with a swap of prisoners and hostages appear to be in stasis, and Galon questions Netanyahu's motivation. Top among Netanyahu's personal interests is avoiding a criminal trial on a series of charges including breach of trust and accepting bribes, which could proceed full steam ahead were he to lose the prime minister's job. Netanyahu not only boasts Israel's most successful electoral record — having won six general elections — but his mastery of the dark arts of political survival has so far enabled him to successfully navigate the fallout from the Oct. 7 attack and deflect blame. Read the full analysis here from CBC's Chris Brown.
It was December 1973 when Vince Fedoroff first knocked on the doors at the Whitehorse Star. "I walked in on the Christmas party. Everybody was whooping it up and having a good time. And I kind of wander in and I go, 'anybody... you got a job?'" he recalled. The then 15-year-old didn't know it at the time, but he was about to embark on a 50-year career with the newspaper. He started sweeping the floors in the press room, then progressed to operating the press, then — despite no formal training — he became the newspaper's photographer, lauded by editor Jim Butler as "the most dedicated and hardest working" shooter he's seen. Now Fedoroff is one of 11 employees clearing stacks of clippings off their desks ahead of the newspaper's final run. Today, the last edition of the 124-year-old Whitehorse Star — one of the last independently-owned newspapers in Canada — will roll off the press, marking the end of an era in the Yukon capital. Read the full story here.
Taking a trip to Europe to see Taylor Swift perform may not seem like an intuitive financial decision — but tickets to a concert in Canada are so expensive some fans are finding that's a better deal. Bryan Kingston, 40, couldn't believe it when he snagged floor seats to an upcoming show in London, U.K., for $500 each on a resale website, when he had paid twice as much in Detroit last year. "I found it was much cheaper," said Kingston, who works in advertising in Hamilton, Ont. "The difference in price actually paid for my flight to Europe." He's still spending a sizeable sum. But for Kingston and other Swifties who can afford it, even with the cost of a flight, hotel and ticket, travelling for the concert may end up being better bang for their buck than seeing the Eras Tour in Canada. Read the full story here.
The Vancouver Canucks put the Edmonton Oilers on the brink of elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 3-2 win in Game 5 last night. The Canucks' victory gives them a 3-2 lead in the series. J.T. Miller scored the game-winning goal in the final minute. Carson Soucy and Phillip Di Giuseppe also scored for Vancouver. Evander Kane and Mattias Janmark both scored for Edmonton in the first period, but the Oilers couldn't get anything past Vancouver rookie goalie Arturs Silovs after that. Game 6 is set for Saturday in Edmonton. Read the full story here.
Now here's some good news to start your Friday: For the first time since the 1990s, Quebec's Transport Ministry and a group of experts have teamed up to relocate a nest of peregrine falcon eggs. Watch the video here.
Front Burner: Can you have a 'real' relationship with an AI?
Large language model tech, like ChatGPT, is leading to increasingly more convincing AI companions. What's going to happen as we let them further and further into our lives?
Today in history: May 17
1630: The belts of the planet Jupiter are first observed by Italian Jesuit astronomer Nicolas Zucchi.
1756: The Seven Years' War formally begins when Britain declares war on France. The war resulted in the British conquest of New France.
1875: The first Kentucky Derby is run at Churchill Downs in Louisville. The winner was Aristides.
1999: David Milgaard accepts a $10-million compensation package from the Saskatchewan government for his wrongful conviction in the 1969 murder of a Saskatoon nursing aide. Milgaard spent 23 years in prison before he was released in April 1992.
With files from The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters
