The Canadian government has taken a page from American national security policy and ordered the shutdown of TikTok’s business.
The Federal Government of Canada ordered TikTok to shutter its offices in the country this past Wednesday and to also shut down the entirety of the Chinese company’s Canadian subsidiary after a national security review.
To clarify, this decision doesn’t ban the use or downloading of TikTok’s app inside Canada. If you’re living in the country, you can freely use the app just as you could before this ruling.
Instead, the ban focuses on the business operations aspect of the social media company inside Canada.
Canada’s government made the decision largely due to advice from the country’s intelligence and security organizations, which have claimed that fundamental risks exist thanks to the Canadian office’s ownership by Chinese company ByteDance.
According to Canadian Minister of Innovation François-Philippe Champagne,
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,”
However, Champagne affirmed that Canadian residents and visitors will continue to have unrestricted access to the app.
On the other hand, he urged the Canadian public to generally use strong cybersecurity measures and understand the supposed potential risks of using TikTok and other apps for storing and sharing their personal information.
Canada’s government has justified its ban on TikTok by invoking the federal-level Investment Canada Act.
Canada’s Federal Parliament
This law gives the government the right to review any foreign investments that might damage the national interests and national security of Canada.
TikTok hasn’t stayed quiet about what it thinks of this prohibition by a national government.
The company released a statement in which it lamented, “Shutting down TikTok’s Canadian offices and destroying hundreds of well-paying local jobs is not in anyone’s best interest, and today’s shutdown order will do just that,”.
The statement adds, “We will challenge this order in court. The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests, and for businesses to thrive.”
TikTok’s troubles are also the case in the much larger, more important United States market, where the company is fighting a ban by the U.S. Federal Government.
In April of 2024, President Biden signed a law that gave TikTok just months to divest itself of its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a total ban inside the United States.
Under the law’s deadline, this would require TikTok in the U.S. to separate itself from ByteDance as early as mid-January of 2025, but TikTok is fighting back.
The company’s hopes for a reprieve now hinge heavily on the upcoming executive takeover by President-elect Donald Trump who has previously pledged a much friendlier stance with the app.
On the other hand, in the European Union, where TikTok is also immensely popular, bans as heavy as those being pushed by the U.S. Government (and possibly now Canada’s too) aren’t yet in the picture.
Several EU member states have banned their officials from using TikTok on their phones and so too has the European Commission, but restrictions haven’t gone beyond that level.
For Canadian and U.S. content creators using TikTok to spread their digital presence, these bans shouldn’t be a problem quite yet, but it might be a good idea to diversify social media presence.
Credit : Source Post
