Kinew taps TikTok to reach Manitobans, but not on government devices

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says he follows security precautions while using TikTok — a social media app that has been banned on government devices.

The federal government banned the app from its devices last February over privacy and security concerns.

Provinces, including Manitoba, followed suit.

Kinew, who has tens of thousands of followers on various platforms, including TikTok, said he has taken steps to ensure that his posts are made by staff on non-government devices. 

"I don't run the TikTok account and I don't keep a TikTok app on my devices, but this is one of the ways that we talk to Manitobans," Kinew said in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press.

"And I think there is some segment of the population out there that gets their political news from this app," he said. "And so we want to be present there."

TikTok is owned by a company based in Beijing, and laws in China allow its government to order businesses to help it gather intelligence.

Manitoba enacted its ban of TikTok on government devices in March, citing a need to protect government information.

Kinew's TikTok account has 65,000 followers. Uploaded videos include weekly updates in which Kinew lists things the newly-minted NDP government has done, a waterfront walk in Halifax where he and other premiers met in November, and a three-point shot on a Winnipeg basketball court during the provincial election campaign.

Plans for future videos include one to tout the government's six-month suspension of the provincial fuel tax, which is set to start Jan. 1.

Kinew says aside from not using government devices, many of his TikTok videos are recorded in places other than the legislature.

"It does mean a bit of a workaround, where we're doing the TikTok videos on different devices and uploading it on different devices and it's staff that's doing that."

Among Kinew's communications staff is a director of "premier's digital engagement," hired at $130,000 a year.