According to a new report, while TikTok is the fastest growing major social network amongst Canadians, it is also the least trusted social media platform in the country.

The report, published on Thursday by Toronto Metropolitan University detailed that the mobile video app has tripled it’s reach since 2019, however, trust in TikTok was at an all-time low, even replacing Facebook as the country’s least trusted social media organization. Research also found that only one in 1o Canadians have trust for any social media platform — a significant decline from 2021.

Approximately 50 per cent of respondents had low trust in TikTok — a 36 per cent increase from the prior year — and only seven per cent had high trust in the app — a decline of 16 per cent.

In a report by The Canadian Press, the rapid decline was attributed to “falling faith in the apps to a succession of scandals,” according to Sam Andrey, director of policy and research at the Leadership Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University. One of these scandals included the 2018 Cambridge Analytica data fiasco and allegations suggesting the company had a role in electing Donald Trump as President.

The report goes on to say that concerns about the app are also associated with the fact that its parent company ByteDance is based in China, “where always allow the country to demand access to user data.”

According to the survey,  a whopping  91 per cent of survey respondents used YouTube, 82 per cent were on Facebook, 77 per cent on Facebook Messenger, while 55 per cent were on Instagram.

When asked to assess the faith they had in various organizations to act in the best interest of the public, survey respondents gave TikTok, Facebook and Twitter the lowest level of trust, far lower than corporate and media brands including Tim Hortons, Loblaws and Bell Canada, as well as international companies including Google and Wikipedia.