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Social media application TikTok has the potential to be a tool for the Chinese Communist Party and is spreading disinformation to Western audiences, warned a brief from Canada's spy agency.

The top-secret document, dated from December 2022, was released on Thursday as part of the ongoing Foreign Interference Commission hearings.

According to new figures detailed by Blacklock's Reporter, the federal government sent $7.8 million in foreign aid to China just last year.

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“TikTok, the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) first Western-centric social media application, has the potential to be exploited by the PRC government to bolster its influence and power overseas, including in Canada,” the briefing says, reports the Globe and Mail. 

“Despite assurances to the contrary, personal data on TikTok users is accessible to China,” the report says. Around one in four Canadians who use the Internet have a TikTok account, according to stats from Made In Canada.

WATCH: @SheilaGunnReid reports on a new parliamentary report, which indicates that the People's Republic of China is funding Canadian media outlets to amplify disinformation.

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The report alleges China's government would be able to have access to any data collected by TikTok from its users, including biometric data such as facial recognition, iris scans, voice recognition along with other information such as location, gender, phone numbers, contacts, email addresses and browsing history.

It also said that the app failed to remove misinformation and promoted pro-Russian messages related to the war in Ukraine.