Canada bans WeChat and Kaspersky on government phones

The suite of applications would be immediately removed from government-issued devices and users will be blocked from downloading them in the future, said a statement. — Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP

OTTAWA: Canada on Monday banned popular Chinese messaging app WeChat and Russian platform Kaspersky from government smartphones and other mobile devices, citing privacy and security risks.

The suite of applications would be immediately removed from government-issued devices and users will be blocked from downloading them in the future, said a statement.