Canada on Monday banned Chinese messaging application WeChat and Russian antivirus program Kaspersky on government-issued mobile devices due to privacy and security risks, but said government information had not been compromised.

Tencent’s WeChat and Kaspersky’s suite of applications have been removed from government-issued mobile devices effective October 30, 2023. Going forward, users of these devices will be blocked from downloading the apps.

WeChat is the super app in China with over 1 billion monthly users, and is a ubiquitous part of daily life in China. You can essentially do everything through WeChat, which is convenient.

However, this convenience comes at a cost. WeChat has monopolized the market to the extent that users have little say in front of the app. Identity verification is mandatory, and the app can suspend accounts at any time. And WeChat has always had the support of the central government, receiving funding, and the government has often restricted or banned competing apps.