Mathieu Nadeau-Vallée, whom many have dubbed “Doctor TikTok”, announced on Wednesday that he was ending his activities on the Chinese social network after being ordered to uninstall the application. However, he denounces that the exclusion of health professionals will leave “the field open to misinformation”.
“Unfortunately, my TikTok adventure is over. […] Doctors who work in several hospitals in Quebec have received an email asking them to uninstall the TikTok application on their personal phones. It’s a cybersecurity issue. We fear that the application has access to several things in our phone, including our emails and probably confidential data, “explained the young doctor in a video released at the start of the day.
In early March, the Legault government had confirmed that a government directive to block the use of TikTok for staff had been decreed for “all public bodies covered by article 2 of the Act respecting the governance and management of information resources Public Bodies and Government Enterprises (LGGRI), which includes universities and schools, but also public health bodies.
In this case, it was first the federal government that launched the movement, announcing that federal deputies will no longer be able to access the application from their work phone.
For the “Doctor TikTok”, however, it remains “sad that doctors have to leave the application, because it leaves the field open to misinformation”. “I hope through my videos I have helped you to develop a critical mind through the information circulating on social networks,” he said.
Mr. Nadeau-Vallée says he started making capsules because he saw “far too much false information circulating” and which concerned “people’s health”. “It was almost worse when I opened the comments section to see that there was no one standing up for science. »
The principal concerned says that he will continue to publish content on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, in particular. He also claims to be considering “another possibility to continue posting content on TikTok, via another phone that is completely independent of all my information”.
His TikTok account named Wal_Trudeau, which has more than 87,000 followers and 1.6 million likes, will also remain “open”, although it will no longer be active, at least in the short term. “You have been close to a hundred thousand to subscribe to me and millions to share my videos, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could never have made it without you. […] This is just a goodbye, ”concluded the doctor in his video, which was shared by several Internet users.