Canada announced Wednesday that it will not block access to the popular video-sharing app TikTok but will order the dissolution of its Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind it.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it was intended to address the risks associated with the establishment of ByteDance Ltd.
“The government is not restricting Canadians’ access to the TikTok app or their ability to create content. The decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal decision,” Champagne said.
Champagne said it’s important for Canadians to use good online security practices, including protecting their personal information.
He said the cancellation order was made in accordance with the Investment Canada Act, which allows for the review of foreign investments that may harm Canada’s national security. He said the decision was based on information and evidence gathered during the review and advice from Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the closure of their Canadian offices would mean the loss of hundreds of local jobs.
“We will challenge this order in court,” said the spokesperson. “TikTok’s platform will always be there for creators to find audiences, explore new interests and businesses to thrive.”
TikTok is very popular with young people, but its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Beijing could use it to collect data on Western users or push pro-China narratives and misinformation. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.
TikTok is facing intense scrutiny from Europe and the US over data security and privacy. It comes as China and the West are embroiled in a technology war from spy balloons to computer chips.
Canada had previously banned TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices. TikTok has two offices in Canada, one in Toronto and one in Vancouver.
Michael Geist, chair of Canadian research on internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, said in a blog post that “banning a company instead of an app can actually make things worse as the risks associated with the app will remain but the power to make the company accountable it will be weak.”
Canada’s move came a day after Donald Trump’s US election. In June, Trump joined TikTok, a platform he tried to block while in the White House. It has about 170 million users in the US
Trump tried to ban TikTok with an executive order that said the “distribution of mobile applications developed and managed” by Chinese companies in the United States was a national security threat. The courts blocked the move after TikTok sued.
Both the US FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that ByteDance may share user data such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers with the Chinese government. TikTok said it has never done that and won’t, when asked.
Trump said earlier this year that he still believes TikTok poses a national security risk, but he was against blocking it.
US President Joe Biden signed legislation in April that would have forced ByteDance to sell the app to a US company within a year or face a nationwide ban. It is unclear whether that law will survive a legal challenge filed by TikTok or whether ByteDance would agree to sell it.
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